A blow to Hizbollah

The killing of Mustafa Amine Badreddine — Hizbollah’s top leader in Syria and a brother-in-law of the late Hizbollah military commander, Imad Moughniyah — in a huge blast near Damascus is by far the biggest blow to the Iranian-backed Hizbollah in years.

This loss is further proof of the level of involvement of Hizbollah in the current crisis in Syria.

Badreddine has a long history of terrorism. For instance, he was accused of having helped plan the attack that killed 241 American Marines in Lebanon in 1982. He also plotted far-ranging attacks and was accused of having taking part in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.

Since the assassination of Moughniyah in 2008, Badreddine has become key to Hizbollah’s new strategy and transformation.

He helped shift the operations of the Hizbollah’s militia from battling Israel to a new mission of interfering in Syria.

When Iranian leaders realised that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s future was hanging, they asked Hizbollah to interfere militarily to help stop the decline of his troops.

Once considered an icon for those who see Israel as the main source of threat in the region, Hizbollah is seen by a growing number of Arabs as a terrorist organisation that does not hesitate to kill Syrians.

If anything, the killing of Badreddine should pose new questions that Hizbollah will find hard to answer.

Hizbollah supporters in Lebanon may ask whether Syria has become a swamp for the militias and whether this has strained the party.

Hizbollah has thus far lost soldiers and top officers; some estimates confirm that the party lost less in the war against Israel in 2006. And as long as the militias fight alongside Assad’s troops, more soldiers will fall.

But the most important question is linked to the effectiveness of the militias in fighting such a long war.

Will Hizbollah be able to justify the death of Lebanese by using the same mantra of fighting against a “Zionist” plot?

Hizbollah quickly announced that the Syrian takfiri — a derogatory term to describe some Sunni extremists — groups are behind the explosion.

A spokesperson of the party ruled out Israel as a possible culprit.

Apparently, accusing Israel would not serve the purpose of the party of continuing its aggressive role in Syria.

Besides, accusing Israel would entail a response that Hizbollah cannot afford amid the current crisis. Therefore, to avoid the embarrassment, Hizbollah conducted the quickest investigation and in hours it points its finger at groups fighting Assad.

To be sure, Hizbollah no longer seeks to provoke Israel.

The war in Syria has changed the agenda and the perception of the party radically.

In 2006, Hizbollah was seen as the symbol of heroic resistance against Israel’s aggression and arrogance.

Support of its leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, came from every corner of the Arab world. But the role of the party in Syria has divided people along sectarian lines.

Those who support the right of the Syrian people to bring down the dictator in Damascus view Hizbollah as nothing but an Iranian tool.

Polls conducted in various Arab countries clearly indicate that Hizbollah lost its popularity.

It is not clear yet whether Badreddine was killed by the rebels or by the Israelis, or even as a result of a possible internal rift over policy in Syria.

Truth does not matter for the top leaders of Hizbollah. They will keep portraying the participation of the party in the war in Syria as a crucial step against a “takfiri” forces serving as tools for a “Zionist” plot.

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