US, Israel may be complicit in Badreddine’s killing: Expert

Press TV has interviewed Omar Nashabe, a judicial affairs and crime expert, about Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah saying its top military commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed by Takfiri terrorist groups in Syria.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: If we were to take a look at the circumstances behind Badreddine’s death Hezbollah has said it is the Daesh Takfiri terrorists responsible for it but what about the intelligence that led to these terrorists killing Badreddine? Do you think that Israel perhaps somehow or another is related to this as many are deducting that they are complicit in this?

Nashabe: Yes, well Mr. Mustafa Badreddine Seyyed Zulfiqar has been targeted since the 80s. It is not new. He is an old target for American and Israeli security agencies since the 80s because he is a center figure in Hezbollah, in the resistance against Israel and he has organized numerous operations and preparations to resist Israeli occupation and Israeli aggression.

So it is not unlikely to actually presume that there has been an Israeli and American participation or contribution in this crime, this assassination that took place the day before yesterday at night and I think that the relationship now between Daesh and Takfiri groups and Israel is becoming more clear to everybody on the international scene.

Mr. Badreddine was accused by an international tribunal of assassinating former prime minister Rafic Hariri and that accusation is not based on any concrete evidence or any direct evidence. There is not one single witness or one single piece of direct evidence that has been presented to actually point out in this direction. So I think that they wanted to assassinate Mr. Badreddine because they realized that with the tribunal and with all the efforts they are making in the media and international tribunals and all the efforts to damage his reputation and weaken him have failed and therefore they have resorted to this assassination.

Now we know from Hezbollah this morning that the Takfiris, and more specifically some groups in Syria such as Daesh and al-Nusra are the ones who are responsible for the execution. Now what you are asking about I think is the intelligence gathering, the information, the preparation for such an execution and it is not unlikely at all, in fact all the Israeli media this morning that I have [gone] through, they kind of congratulate themselves for something that they are declaring in there on media that they believe that it is also highly probable that the Israeli air force was involved in this.

Well it turned out from Hezbollah investigations and Hezbollah is a very scientific, technical organization that actually provides the information not for propaganda purposes but for the reality. The reality and the truth is that Mr. Badreddine was assassinated by bombing, targeted bombing, artillery shelling from these terrorist groups in Syria.

I repeat again, it is not unlikely that the intelligence gathering to locate Mr. Badreddine and with the equipment perhaps, we are not sure, there are no details of the equipment, the artillery equipment that has been used, apparently the shelling, I have heard yesterday rumors that the equipment used in the shelling is of quality that is to be further examined because apparently it comes from advanced technology and that technology is not usually available in small groups, they have to have the assistance of lager nations.

Press TV: And finally and quickly, if it turns out somehow given the fact that you just mentioned Hezbollah is a very technologically and scientifically advanced organization that it leads them to them concluding  that Israel had something to do with this, are we going to see any type of reaction do you think from Hezbollah regarding that?

Nashabe: Definitely. This is not the first time the Israelis and the Takfiri groups assassinate leaders, military leaders in Syria. However, I wish to point out that Hezbollah is a party devoted to resistance and is a religious Islamic party. This is the Islamic resistance and all the resistance in the Islamic resistance seek to be martyred because they are in the school of Karbala and the school of [Imam] Hussein.

So this does not at all damage the organization on this level. The organization, all of the leaders, most of the great leaders of Hezbollah have been assassinated and they are a motivator for thousands and hundreds of thousands of men and women to join the organization for the shahid (martyr) because [Imam] Hussein is the symbol of the resistance and he himself is a shahid. So I wanted just to point out to this angle.

But let me go back to the issue. Hezbollah has a lot of military leaders that have been assassinated in Syria. Mr. Mustafa Badreddine Zulfiqar is not the first one. We had Imad Mughniyeh, the military commander has been assassinated in 2008 in Damascus and also Samir Qantar and also the son of Imad Mughniyeh had been also assassinated in Syria.

Hezbollah will react and will react at the right time with the right tools and the right means, that is the promise of Hezbollah and that is what Hezbollah has pledged and I think this is an organization as you said is a very technical and very advanced organization in planning and therefore it will plan the right time in the right place and it will hit hard the Israeli oppressing forces in Lebanon or in occupied land or anywhere in the world.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk