Hezbollah senior commander has been died of his wounds in Qalamoun battles, ‘’not gunned down outside his home in southern Beirut,’’ Qalamoun Media Center said.
''Hezbollah deliberately hides the truth to keep its fighters’
morale high,'' the center say.
Iran’s proxy announced on Wednesday the
death of Hassan al-Laqis and described him as one of the founding members of
the group, suggesting he was a high-level commander close to the Shiite party's
leadership. It said in a statement al-Laqis was killed as he returned home from
work around midnight.
Activists of the center claimed that Laqis
had been to Qalamoun's towns on November 29 to co-lead Hezbollah militants with commander
Ja’far Ra’ad but he had been injured at the first week to be moved back to
Beirut.
A Lebanese security official and another
close to the Shiite group said assailants shot al-Laqis with a pistol equipped
with a silencer at close range as he got out of his car outside of the
residential building where he lived in the Hadath neighborhood, some two miles
(three kilometers) southwest of Beirut.
He was shot five times in the head and
neck, the Lebanese official said. Footage from the scene broadcast on
Hezbollah's al-Manar television station showed the parking lot stained with
muddied footprints that led to a nearby small olive grove. Yellow police tape
blocked off the area.
Al-Laqis was rushed to a nearby hospital
but died early Wednesday from his wounds, the officials said. The officials
spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The Hezbollah statement accused Israel of being responsible for the killing. It said Israel tried to kill him several times, but had failed.
"The Israeli enemy is naturally
directly to blame," the statement said. "This enemy must shoulder
complete responsibility and repercussions for this ugly crime and its repeated
targeting of leaders and cadres of the resistance."
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denied Israeli involvement."Israel has nothing to do with this incident," Palmor said. "These automatic accusations are an innate reflex with Hezbollah. They don't need evidence, they don't need facts, they just blame anything on Israel." (with AP)
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