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The Israeli army has killed a Hezbollah commander, Salim Jamil Ayyash, in an airstrike. According to the Times of Israel, Salim was hiding in Al-Qusayr, a Hezbollah stronghold in Syria. Apart from Salim, 8 more people were killed in the Israeli army attack.
Iran's Foreign Ministry has criticized the attack and demanded Israel's expulsion from the United Nations.
Salim was a member of Hezbollah's Unit 151. America had placed a reward of 10 million dollars (Rs 84 crore) on him. He was responsible for the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hariri was Lebanon's most popular Sunni Muslim leader. He was the PM of the country 5 times.
On 14 February 2005, Hariri's convoy was hit by a truck loaded with 3,000 kg of explosives in Beirut. He died in this. 21 people accompanying him were also killed in the attack.
A Lebanese man shouts for help to the injured after the explosion in Beirut. Former PM Rafiq Hariri was killed in this explosion.
According to the United Nations, explosives equivalent to 3,000 kg of dynamite were used in Hariri's assassination. The attack was so terrible that the explosion left an 11 meter wide crater.
Hezbollah refuses to hand over Salim, accuses Mossad of murder The United Nations, based in The Hague, Netherlands, formed the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) after Hariri's death. In the year 2022, STL had held three people including Salim responsible for the murder of Rafiqui and sentenced all of them to life imprisonment.
The tribunal had said that Salim Ayyash had led the suicide squad that assassinated PM Hariri. Two more people, Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Onassi, were also included in this.
All three were absconding since the murder. The then Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah had refused to hand over these three to the tribunal. Nasrallah said that Mossad had Hariri assassinated to expel the Syrian army from Lebanon.
In fact, after the civil war started in Lebanon, Syria had captured the eastern-northern area of the country. Hariri was pressurizing Syria to vacate this area, but his efforts were not successful. Meanwhile he was murdered.
Relations between Syria and Lebanon worsened after Hariri's assassination. Lebanon's local leaders put pressure on Syria to leave the country. Ultimately, pressure was put on Syria from the United Nations, due to which Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon in April 2005, and the 29-year occupation of the country ended.
However, Hezbollah was later found guilty of Hariri's assassination. Hezbollah was angry at the improving relations between Israel and Lebanon. In fact, Hariri built good relations with Israel. He succeeded in regaining South Lebanon by negotiating with Israel. Israel had occupied this area for 18 years.
Israeli Defense Minister said – We defeated Israel, defeating Nasrallah is a big achievement Meanwhile, Israel's new Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that his country has defeated Hezbollah. Katz also said that eliminating Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah is Israel's biggest achievement.
Katz said that to achieve this winning result we need to keep up the pressure. He said Israel is not interested in Lebanon's internal politics, but he hopes Lebanon will join other countries in normalizing relations with Israel.
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