Lebanon’s Hizbullah terror organization has denied a report published in the Kuwaiti daily A-Siyasa, according to which it refused to turn over three of its members to a Syrian court for questioning regarding the murder of ‘Imad Mughniyah, Hizbullah’s chief of operations.
The Syrian military court is investigating Mughniyah’s murder, which took place two weeks ago. The court has summoned three Hizbullah intelligence officers, whose names came up during interrogations with four Palestinian suspects, A-Siyasa reported.
The report is based on Lebanese security sources, which, according to the Kuwaiti paper were following the Syrian investigation. The sources claimed that the Hizbullah leadership refused to turn over its three members because it did not want to be implicated in the murder.
An internal rift between Hizbullah Secretary-General Hasan Na’srallah and Mughniyah after the 2006 war with Israel might have led to Mughniyah’s murder by Na’srallah’s supporters, the sources suggested. Another possibility is that Iran was dissatisfied with Mughniyah’s conduct during the war.
The Media Line asked for Hizbullah’s response to a list of questions, including a clarification regarding its refusal to send its three intelligence officers to Damascus, and the possibility that Israel was not behind Mughniyah’s assassination.
The organization declined to answer the questions and was highly dismissive of A-Siyasa‘s credibility.
Immediately after the assassination, Hizbullah declared that it had no doubt Israel was behind it. Na’srallah therefore declared an open-ended war against Israel.