Commander in Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah killed in Israeli strike in Syria
The Iran-backed group said Abu Haidar al-Khafaji had been a security advisor in Damascus.
An Iraqi militia commander was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on Friday, days after his group vowed to fight Israel over the pager explosions in Lebanon.
The Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah said Abu Haidar al-Khafaji was killed in a “Zionist assault” at dawn in Damascus. Khafaji had been working as a security advisor in the area, the group said in a statement on Telegram.
Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy operating in Iraq and Syria, announces the death of a member in an alleged Israeli airstrike near Damascus this morning.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 20, 2024
The terror group in a statement says Abu Haidar al-Khafaji served as a security advisor in the Damascus area. pic.twitter.com/RQ47fHB03K
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a Kataib Hezbollah commander had been killed in a drone attack that targeted his vehicle on the road to the Damascus airport early Friday morning. The drone was “believed to be Israeli,” according to the pro-opposition war monitor, which did not identify the commander.
Khafaji had previously fought against “Takfiri-Wahabi gangs” in Syria, including at the Sayyidah Zaynab mosque, and participated in battles against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, according to the Kataib Hezbollah statement.
