Mustafa Mughniyeh, Son of Imad Mughniyeh, Appointed as Commander of Hezbollah's Military Branch

Arabic media, including Asharq Al-Awsat, reported that Hezbollah has appointed Mustafa Mughniyeh, son of Imad Mughniyeh, as the commander of the military branch of the organization. Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Tuesday, May 17, citing 'Lebanese sources,' that Mustafa Mughniyeh has succeeded his uncle, Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed last Friday. Hezbollah has remained silent on this matter. Mustafa Badreddine was killed in the early hours of Friday, May 13, in an explosion at a military building near Damascus Airport. Assessments indicated that the Damascus Airport area is one of the most protected locations under the control of forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad, and the likelihood of infiltration by 'takfiri forces' is low. However, Hezbollah stated on Saturday, May 14, in a statement that 'a group of takfiri forces' was responsible for the mortar attack on the mentioned building. Mustafa Mughniyeh is one of the sons of Imad Mughniyeh, with reports indicating his age as either 33 or 29. Mustafa Amin Badreddine, 55, the brother of Imad Mughniyeh's wife, had succeeded him after the family’s son-in-law was killed eight years ago. Imad Mughniyeh, a former senior commander of Hezbollah militants, was killed in February 2008 in an explosion in Damascus, which Hezbollah attributed to Israel. Jihad Mughniyeh, the youngest son of Imad Mughniyeh and brother of Mustafa Mughniyeh, was also killed fourteen months ago in an airstrike on vehicles in the Quneitra area of Syria, near the Israeli border. In that attack in January 2015, which Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah attributed to Israel, Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, was killed alongside Jihad Mughniyeh and several Hezbollah personnel. Following Jihad Mughniyeh's death, Iranian media first published images of this 18-year-old Lebanese Shia youth alongside Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, but there has been little mention of Mustafa Mughniyeh in Arab media until now. Meanwhile, Iranian media reported that Qassem Soleimani visited the Badreddine family home in Beirut on Sunday, May 15, to offer condolences and also visited Badreddine's grave. Additionally, according to these reports, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, and a delegation from the Iranian government were present at the Badreddine family home. Arab media claimed in recent days that the explosion aimed at killing Badreddine occurred about half an hour after his meeting with Qassem Soleimani in the mentioned building. Iran did not confirm Soleimani's return to Syria, but IRNA, the official news agency of the Islamic Republic, reported a day before Badreddine's death that 'the hashtag Qassem Soleimani in Syria' had greatly angered the takfiris.