Hezbollah commander Badreddine 'killed in air strike'

Baku. 13 May. REPORT.AZ/ Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in an Israeli air strike in Syria this week, the Lebanese Shia group has announced, Report informs citing the foreign media.

"He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982," Hezbollah said in a statement announcing his death on Friday, describing Badreddine as "the great jihadi leader".

He was killed on Tuesday night, the statement said, adding that the attack targeted one of its bases near Damascus airport.

The group said it was working to "define the nature of the explosion and its cause, and whether it was the result of an air strike, or missile (attack) or artillery".

Badreddine, a brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander, Imad Moughniyah, was indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, and was also sanctioned by the United States.

Badreddine was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, is fighting in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.