Suspect in Hariri Killing Dies in Mysterious Damascus Blast
by Edward YeranianMay 13, 2016
The man reputed to be Hezbollah's top military commander and a top suspect in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al Harri was killed in a blast near Damascus International Airport.
Nadim Shehadi, who heads the Fares Center at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, tells VOA that Badreddin and other suspects in the Hariri case have been dying off quickly.
"Everyone we know connected to the Hariri assassination is dying, so very soon you will have a (special) tribunal in the Hague that is not able to have a trial or that would have to innovate to have a trial, because Badreddin was the highest profile (in the case) and now he's gone," he said.
Other suspects who have been killed or died under mysterious circumstances in recent years include top Syrian intelligence officials Rustom Ghazaleh and Jamaa Jamaa, and Badreddin's brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyah, who was Hezbollah's former top military commander until he was assassinated in 2008.
"People like Badreddin and Mughniyah," argues Shehadi, "belong to the darker side of institutions and are not supposed to be well known." "Once they are known and become too exposed," he adds, "they become a liability to their own people."
Hezbollah said Badreddin had "become a martyr." The group indicated the cause of the fatal explosion near Damascus Airport is still being investigated, although several Hezbollah leaders directed suspicion at Israel.
There was no official reaction from Israel, which customarily declines to comment on such matters. Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Israeli Army Radio that Badreddin's passing was "good for Israel," but added that "those (fighting) in Syria……have a lot of (enemies other than) Israel."
Who was Badreddin
Took part in most Hezbollah operations since 1982
Accused of participating in 1983 attacks on U.S. Marine command center and embassy in Beirut
Suspected of attack on Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996
Condemned to death in Kuwait in 1983 for assassination attempt on Kuwait's late Emir Sa'ad Jabbar al Sabah.
Shi'ite gunmen who hijacked a TWA plane in 1985 demanded his freedom
Escaped Kuwait after Iraqi troops invaded in 1990
A top suspect in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al Hariri in 2005
Hezbollah reaction
Lebanon's Minister of Industry Hussein Hajj Hassan, who belongs to Hezbollah, told journalists at a funeral wake for Badreddin in Beirut that he will be missed.
He said another Hezbollah commander has been killed, joining many others, and that his death will add to the group's determination, patience and will to fight Israel.
Hezbollah's Al Manar TV said Badreddin had told his friends and family several months ago that he would return from Syria, where he was fighting Sunni militias opposed to President Bashar al Assad's government,"either as a victor or as a martyr."
"Badreddine was dually hated as head of an Islamic jihad organization terror wing and also as head of Hezbollah's Syrian command. Even several years ago he would accompany Nasrallah to weekly meetings with Assad in Damascus.Hezbollah will continue to fight on behalf of the Assad regime and against Sunni Syrians, but this is a significant loss for Hezbollah."
Rassoul Dez, a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander who fled the country recently and found refuge in Washington, DC., said Hezbollah will be weakened inside and outside of Lebanon.
"Hezbollah's stance will shatter if they cannot replace him with another master mind," Dez said.
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