Alwaght- Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah announced on Friday the martyrdom of senior commander, Hajj Mustafa Badreddine in Syria.
In a statement early on Friday, Hezbollah said that a huge blast hit one of the resistance centers near Damascus airport.
An investigation will take place in order to verify whether the blast was a result of an airstrike or shelling, the statement said, noting that more information will be announced later.
In an earlier statement, Hezbollah praised Badreddine as a great Jihadi leader who took part in most of the Islamic resistance operations since 1982.
Hezbollah's Statement:
In The Name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful
"Of the believers are men who are true to that which they covenanted with Allah. Some of them have paid their vow by death (in battle), and some of them still are waiting; and they have not altered in the least" (Al-Ahzab, 23)
A few months earlier he said: "I won't come back from Syria unless as a martyr or a carrier of the banner of victory."
He is the great Jihadi leader, Hajj Mustafa Badriddine (Sayyed Zulfiqar), who came back today wrapped with the banner of victory which he established through his bitter fight against the Takfiri groups in Syria.
Following a life full of Jihad, captivity, wounds and great qualitative achievements, Sayyed Zulfiqar concluded his life with martyrdom. He joined the convoy of martyrs, one of whom was his beloved and life-long companion, martyred leader Hajj Imad Moughniyeh.
It is the resistance which grows with its leaders when they're alive and cherish them when they get martyred.
For Allah's rewards we sacrifice our martyred leader. We ask Almighty to have great mercy on Sayyed Zulfiqar and to grant him permanent bliss.”
The 55-year-old Badreddine was the commander of Hezbollah's military wing which is helping the Syrian government drive out foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists from the country.
In doing so, the movement says it is trying to prevent the Syrian conflict from spilling over to Lebanon and keep Takfiri terrorists at bay.
Badreddine also directed military operations against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and was a frequent target of attempts by Tel Aviv, the US and its allies in the Middle East to assassinate or capture him.
He was the cousin and brother-in-law of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh who was assassinated by Israel in 2008.
Mossad killed Mughniyeh by remotely detonating a bomb planted in the spare tire of a parked SUV in the Syrian capital.
Mughniyah's son, Jihad, was also assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in Syria in January 2015.
Israel is widely known to have been supporting terrorists fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the death of Hezbollah's military chief will certainly strenghten the resolve of the Lebanese resistance movement’s determination to combat the Israeli regime and terrorism.
In a message to Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, Zarif expressed the Islamic Republic's condolences on the killing of Mustafa Badreddine by the Israeli regime.
The Iranian minister said Badreddine was "all passion and devotion" in defending the ideals of Islam and the resistant Lebanese people and in fighting terrorism.
