Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — A leading Hizbullah military commander has been assassinated.

Hizbullah said Hassan Al Lakis was shot dead outside his home in Hadath south of Beirut. The killing, said to be the work of a lone gunman with a silencer, took place on Dec. 4 as Al Lakis, head of Hizbullah’s technology unit, returned from work.

“One of the leaders of the Islamic resistance, Hassan Al Lakis, was assassinated,” Hizbullah said.

In a statement on Dec. 4, Hizbullah blamed Israel for the killing of Al Lakis. The statement said Al Lakis had survived several assassination attempts. Israel has denied any involvement.

“The Israeli enemy is naturally directly to blame,” Hizbullah said.

Later, an unknown group called “The Brigade of Sunni Freemen in Baalbek” claimed responsibility for the killing, said to be the most damaging since the assassination of Hizbullah operations chief Imad Mughniyeh in 2008. The brigade was believed linked to the new Sunni militias financed by Saudi Arabia.

“Lakis was involved in scientific development and played a key role in developing Hizbullah’s unmanned aerial vehicles program,” the Lebanese Daily Star, quoting a Lebanese source, said.

Hizbullah did not provide details of Al Lakis. But intelligence sources
said Al Lakis was a senior commander who also headed Hizbullah rocket units
as well as helped direct Hizbullah troops in Syria.

Al Lakis was also identified as a liaison with Iran who represented
Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. Part of this job, the sources
said, was arranging Iranian weapons shipments from Syria to Lebanon.

“Hassan was the leading figure who received Iranian guidance,” Israeli
intelligence analyst Ronen Bergman said in an interview with the British
Broadcasting Co. “He studied in Iran the issues of microwarfare, terrorism,
counter-terrorism, and he brought this knowledge with him to Hizbullah. So
he was one of these channels through which the Iranians gave Hizbullah their
assistance.”

Hizbullah has accused Saudi Arabia of sponsoring attacks on Iranian
interests in Lebanon. This included the double suicide bombing outside the
Iranian embassy in Beirut in mid-November 2013, purportedly to help Sunni
rebels in Syria before a peace conference in Geneva, Switzerland in early
2014.

“There is a Saudi decision to try and change the events on the ground
until Jan. 22,” Nasrallah said. “They will fail.”

  Hadath, Hassan Al Lakis, Hassan Nasrallah, Top Hizbullah commander assassinated by lone gunman with silencer near Beirut