| Hizb'allah appears to be losing the cream of their fighters in Syria, poor dears. |
...
Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as
The Resistanceand purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
buried a leading commander in the south of the country on Monday, after he was killed "performing his jihadist duties in Syria", his party said.
"The Islamic Resistance (armed wing) is celebrating a leader from its heroic, sacrificing forces, the martyr Hassan Hussein al-Hajj... who died while performing his jihadist duties in Syria," it said in an official obituary.
Hizbullah has intervened in Syria on behalf of the embattled regime of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
, dispatching fighters and commanders to various fronts around the country.
According to the South Leb local news website, which is close to Hizbullah, Hajj was "the head of Hizbullah's operations inside Idlib" in northwest Syria.
He was killed in fierce festivities between Hizbullah fighters and "a takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
(extremist Sunni) group", it said.
Although Hizbullah did not specify when Hajj was killed, local media said he died on Saturday.
Phillip Smyth, an expert on Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq, told AFP that Hajj was a "leading command element" in Hizbullah and killed in Idlib.
Hajj was buried in al-Louaizeh village. The funeral was attended by large crowds including Hizbullah officials.
It was a rare move for the party, which has normally refrained from giving details on its military losses in Syria.
Hizbullah's obituary said Hajj had led "some of the most famous special operations" against Israeli forces.