by Hana Levi JulianThe Hizbullah terrorist organization late Tuesday night lost a top commander in a powerful car bombing the group said was carried out by Israeli operatives in Damascus. Journalists were prevented by Syrian police from approaching the vehicle following the blast. Imad Mughniyeh, considered to be the mastermind behind most, if not all of HizbullahÂ’s terror attacks, was one of the groupÂ’s most senior commanders in Lebanon. He lived in hiding for years and was able to evade the public eye until Tuesday nightÂ’s attack.
An unconfirmed report by Iranian sources said Hajj Hussein Halil, politburo director and deputy to Hizbullah chief terrorist Hassan Nasrallah, also was killed in Tuesday night's car bombing. Hizbullah has not commented.| "We got nuttin' to say!" |
He was indicted in the US for the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, in which the airlinerÂ’s passengers were held hostage for six days at the Beirut airport. The Hizbullah terrorists severely beat US Navy diver Robert Stethem, a passenger on the June 24 flight, before killing him and dumping his body onto the tarmac. The dead terrorist was on the US governmentÂ’s Most Wanted List for having organized an attack on a US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983. The October 23 car bombing killed 241 American military personnel who were stationed in Beirut as part of a peace-keeping force.
| That's something that's seldom brought up: the Marines weren't there as an occupying force, but as peacekeepers. In fact, they were remarkably even-handed, and had several fairly tense run-ins with the Israelis. |
He was also Hizbullah's main liaison with the terrorist group's main patron, Iran. The Islamic Republic provides massive support in the form of funding, equipment, weaponry and terrorist training to the group, as does Syria. Both countries have remained silent on the assassination.
The bombing is also likely to cause further upheavel in the current political crisis in Lebanon, which has been wracked by conflict between pro- and anti-Syrian forces. Anti-Syrian parties have fought off attempts by Hizbullah to increase its power in the Lebanese Cabinet. The impasse has forced a delay in Lebanon's presidential elections by several months.