Israeli Website Says Mustafa Badreddine Is Hizbullah's New Military Commander
An Israeli website that is expert on terrorism revealed on Wednesday the identity of Hizbullah's new military commander, the successor of slain official Imad Mughnieh.
"Mustafa Amin Badreddine assumed his responsibilities as the party's new military commander,” the website, 910, said according to Palestinian news agency SAFA.
Badreddine is one of the party's founders and was the commander of several special operations, according to SAFA.
The website also published never seen pictures of the new military commander.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has accused Badreddine along with 3 other Hizbullah-linked suspects of being involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.
According to the arrest warrant in the murder case, he is accused of planning and overseeing the execution of the assassination.
Badreddine, also known as Sami Issa, was born 1961 and has strong ties with Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Iran.
He is a cousin and the brother-in-law of slain Hizbullah military commander Mughnieh.
He is a member of the Hizbullah’s Shura council and the head of its external operations.
He was arrested and imprisoned in Kuwait in 1983.
In 1990, he managed to escape prison and flee to Iran where the Revolutionary Guard returned him to Beirut.
The 910 website drew its name from the title given to the external operations' cell in Hizbullah, 910, and it strives to gather information on this unit and has also offered financial rewards for those willing to reveal new data about it.
Badreddine, is reportedly in charge of the 910 unit which, according to the website, is also behind the deadly blast in Bulgaria's Burgas.
Five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver were killed in the July 18, 2012 bombing on their tourist bus. The identity of the lone bomber, who also perished, has so far remained a mystery.
The attack was the deadliest on Israelis abroad since 2004 and Israel immediately blamed it on Iran and its "terrorist" proxy Hizbullah, but Bulgarian investigators have however been more cautious. Iran denied involvement.
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