News / Palestine

Israel behind Hezbollah commander's death: Knesset member

Saturday, 27 February 2016 6:01 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 28 February 2016 3:27 AM ]

This file picture taken on July 16, 2008 shows Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah (R) speaking next to Samir Qantar (L) at a stadium in southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. © AFP

In the first acknowledgement by an Israeli politician, a member of the Knesset has held the Tel Aviv regime responsible for the assassination of Samir Qantar, a high-profile member of the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, in Syria last December.

Omer Bar-Lev, a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee, told Times of Israel online newspaper on Saturday that Qantar’s killing “was certainly a message to [Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan] Nasrallah,” adding that Israeli officials regard the Hezbollah chief as “the enemy.”

The Israeli legislator further stated that the killing of Qantar was a great “achievement” for Israel.

Omer Bar-Lev, a member of Israel's Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee

The Israeli legislator further stated that Nasrallah should be targeted “at the first opportunity, just like Samir Qantar.”

Qantar was killed during a raid that targeted his home in the southern Syrian city of Jaramana, located 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) southeast of the Syrian capital, Damascus, early on December 20, 2015.

Following Qantar’s death, Nasrallah said, "We reserve the right to respond to this assassination at the time and place of our choosing. Those of us in Hezbollah will exercise that right."

“We have no doubt or question that Israel is the one which assassinated Samir Qantar, its planes fired precise missiles on an apartment (he was in),” Hezbollah secretary general noted.

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine also said that Tel Aviv is accountable for Qantar’s death.

"If the Israelis think by killing Samir Qantar, they have closed an account then they are very mistaken because they know and will come to know that they have instead opened several more," Safieddine added.

Israel launched two wars on Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. About 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, lost their lives during the 33-day war in the summer of 2006.

On both occasions, Hezbollah fighters gave befitting responses to the Tel Aviv regime’s acts of aggression, forcing Israel’s military to retreat without achieving any of its objectives.

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