Hezbollah figure killed in Syria had ties to Soleimani
Jihad Mughniyah, a Hezbollah member among those killed the recent Israeli strike in Syria, had a close relationship with Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.
One of the most surprising deaths in the Jan. 18 Israeli attack against a Hezbollah convoy in Syria was that of “Jawwad” Jihad Mughniyah, the son of Imad Mughniyah, a senior member of Hezbollah who was assassinated in Damascus in 2008. Jihad became well known in Iran last year, when news agencies published photographs of him standing behind Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani during Soleimani’s mother’s funeral.
According to reports, Soleimani was seen talking to Jihad during the funeral and introduced him to guests who arrived to pay their respects. Fars News reported that the relationship between Soleimani and Jihad was such that some people “assumed Jihad was Soleimani’s son.”
Jihad does not appear to have been a key Hezbollah figure in the attack, however. One of the more central Hezbollah figures killed is Mohammad Ahmad Issa, who Raja News identified as an intelligence official, though other news agencies reported he was a top commander for Iraq and Syria.
The other names provided by Hezbollah, according to Al-Akhbar, were Seyyed Abbas, Abbas Ibrahim Hijazi, “Kazem,” Mohammad Ali Hassan Abu al-Hassan, “Daniel” Ghazi Ali Dawi and “Ihab” Ali Hassan Ibrahim.
