Israeli strikes kill Hezbollah fighters in Syria

By Diaa Hadid and Zeina Karam, Associated Press

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015 | 12:02 p.m.

BEIRUT — An Israeli strike in southern Syria on Sunday killed the son of a slain top Hezbollah commander and another four fighters in a move that could ratchet up tensions with the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement, which recently boasted it has rockets that can hit any part of the Jewish state.

Hezbollah guerrillas in towns and villages along the border with Israel went on high alert, said an official from the group. In the Shiite-dominated areas of south Lebanon and Beirut the streets emptied quickly, as residents feared an escalation. Hezbollah-run al-Manar TV warned that Israel was "playing with fire that puts the security of the whole Middle East on edge."

A Hezbollah official identified one of the five slain men as Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah operative assassinated in 2008 in Damascus. Hezbollah blames Israel for the killing and has long vowed to avenge his death.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. He said the dead included another senior Hezbollah fighter, Mohammed Issa.

Jihad Mughniyeh, was one of the most prominent Hezbollah officials to die in Syria since the group entered the fray in 2012, fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces against the Sunni-led rebellion against his family's four-decade rule.

Sunday's strike targeted two Hezbollah vehicles as fighters were inspecting positions in the Golan Heights, close to the Israeli-controlled frontier, in an area known as Mazrat al-Amal.

Hezbollah's media wing said "a number" of fighters were killed, but did not provide names.

"While a group of Hezbollah fighters were on a field inspection of the town, Mazrat al-Amal... They faced rocket shelling from helicopters of the Israeli enemy, leading to the martyrdom of a number of holy warrior brothers, whose names will be announced once their honorable families have been informed," it said.

A spokesman for the group, Mohammed Afif, said the men were in two vehicles when they were hit.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on activists inside Syria, also said Israeli airstrikes targeted two vehicles in the area.

Syria's state-run media said six people were killed, and that a child was seriously wounded. It is normal to have conflicting death tolls after violent incidents in Syria.

Israel's military did not comment on Sunday's incident.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating war in 2006, but since then have largely shied away from direct confrontation. But on Thursday Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah boasted that the group's rockets could hit any part of Israel and threatened to invade the Galilee region of northern Israel in the next war between the two bitter foes.

Since Syria's conflict began in March 2011, Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria that have targeted sophisticated weapons systems, including Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles and Iranian-made missiles, believed to be destined for Hezbollah.

The last such airstrike was in early December, when Israeli warplanes struck near Damascus' international airport, as well as outside a town close to the Lebanon border.

Jihad Mughniyeh was estimated to be around 25, said a friend who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. The friend said Mughniyeh was one of the Hezbollah fighters tasked with overseeing operations in the Golan Heights.

A Syrian activist said Hezbollah was widely rumored to be training pro-Assad militiamen and Syrian government forces near the area of the strikes. The activist, who uses the name Abu Omar, said the tiny community was close to rebel positions, and that they had obtained the information from people there.

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.