Israel: Former Commander of Hezbollah's Military Wing Killed in Internal Conspiracy

Israel claims that the former commander of Hezbollah's military wing was killed in an internal conspiracy within the Lebanese Shiite organization, as a result of pressures from the Quds Force leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the Secretary-General of Hezbollah. General Gadi Eisenkot, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, stated on Tuesday, March 21, that investigations conducted by the Israeli military intelligence agency indicate that Mustafa Badreddine was killed by Hezbollah forces in an internal settlement. According to Israeli media, General Eisenkot presented the results of the 'investigations' conducted by 'Aman', the military intelligence organization of the Israeli army, during a speech at a security conference at the 'Meir Dagan' Institute in Netanya, Israel. Mustafa Badreddine was killed on May 13, 2016, in an explosion near an airport in Damascus, the capital of Syria. One day after Badreddine's death, Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, stated that his military commander was not killed by Israel. Nasrallah had promised to provide more details about this matter, but this promise was not fulfilled. The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army stated that reports received by Israel indicated that Badreddine had serious disagreements with senior commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Recently, the Saudi Al-Arabiya network reported that Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, had asked Hassan Nasrallah to dismiss Badreddine due to dissatisfaction with his performance in Syria. Mustafa Badreddine and three other commanders of Hezbollah's military wing were accused by an international court affiliated with the United Nations of aiding in the assassination plot of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in the 2005 bombing in Beirut. Badreddine had been arrested, tried, and imprisoned at the age of 22 for planning to kill the Emir of Kuwait and for designing an explosion at the U.S. embassy in Kuwait. However, during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which led to chaos in the emirate, Badreddine escaped from prison and returned to Arab countries until he was traced back to Lebanon. Mustafa Badreddine, who was 55 at the time of his death, was the brother of one of the wives of Imad Mughniyeh, the former commander of Hezbollah's military wing. Imad Mughniyeh was also killed in an explosion in Damascus in February 2008, three years before the start of the Syrian civil war. Badreddine's appointment as the commander of Hezbollah's military wing was formalized in 2011, three years after Mughniyeh's death. Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah are considered important allies of the Islamic Republic of Iran in regional and global movements. Hezbollah militants were dispatched to Syria shortly after the start of the civil war in March 2011 to help preserve Bashar al-Assad's regime. In the past year, Hassan Nasrallah has praised his militants in the Syrian war and stated that 'money, weapons, and everything for Hezbollah comes from Iran as always.' According to reports, at the time of Badreddine's death, there were reports that he had met with several senior commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps at the same military base of the Syrian army where he was killed hours later. These reports indicated that the main issue of disagreement between Badreddine and Qassem Soleimani was the continuation of military presence in Syria at the end of the country's wars. General Eisenkot stated that the bloody internal settlement within Hezbollah and the killing of Badreddine shows how 'oppressive' the internal relations of this organization are, even with its main supporter. Eisenkot also assessed that Hezbollah is undergoing a 'deep internal and financial crisis.' The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army stated that if Hezbollah wants to attack Israel as before, Israel will target not only Hezbollah-affiliated sites but all of Lebanon this time.