Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah’s Son-In-Law Killed In Suspected Israeli Strike
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
DAMASCUS/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – The son-in-law of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has likely been killed by suspected Israeli airstrikes in Damascus, Israeli and Arabic sources say.
Hassan Jafar Qassir was reportedly hit in the Mezzeh neighborhood in Syria’s capital on Wednesday. He is the brother of Muhammad Jafar Qassir, who was killed in a strike in Beirut on Wednesday during the Iranian attack on Israel, Worthy News learned.
The latest attack further diminished Hezbollah’s command structures.
It comes as the Islamic group, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, faces a massive ground offensive by Israel in Lebanon, where it is based.
Israeli media said Hassan Jafar Qassir’s assassination is “another severe blow” to Hezbollah as its leadership.
The Qassir brothers were “deeply involved in terrorism” since at least the 1982 Lebanon War, when on November 11, Ahmad Qassir drove his car into an Israeli base in Tyre, detonating the explosives onboard, Israeli sources said.
The blast reportedly marked the first known suicide bombing in Lebanese history.
FOUNDING FIGURE
Ahmad Qassir was guided by one of Hezbollah’s founding figures, Imad Mughniya, who was mysteriously assassinated in Damascus in 2008,” reported The Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Hezbollah’s official news bulletin, al-Ahed, said Ahmad Qassir’s attack marked the beginning of all martyrdom operations and was the torch of resistance among youth, who were eager to defend their homeland.”
His death is commemorated every year with “Martyr Day,” in which Hezbollah celebrates suicide bombing.
Sources familiar with the situation said his attack received the required religious seal of approval in the form of a fatwa from one of Shia Islam’s highest-ranked clerics, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
“With the fatwa secured, the Qassir family swiftly became terror royalty, with Ahmad being termed the “first martyr,” commented The Jerusalem Post.
His brothers both rose in the ranks of the emerging Hezbollah group.
“Muhammed became a leading figure in the deliveries of Iranian weapons from Syria,” and “Hassan married Hassan Nasrallah’s daughter, cementing their connection to Hezbollah and Iran,” Israeli sources said.
NOTORIOUS MAN
Muhammad Jafar Qassir became such a notorious figure the United States reportedly offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his death or capture.
In 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department designated him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, allowing sanctions.
That meant “among other consequences, all property and interests in property of Qassir that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Qassir,” the Department wrote.
He allegedly helped oversee several front companies that funneled money into Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in particular through the sale of oil and other untraceable products.
Hezbollah fighters have also been severely impacted by their inability to safely communicate after pagers and then walkie-talkies blew up last month in a suspected Israeli operation.
The attacks killed dozens and injured thousands, Lebanese officials said.
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