Nasrallah: ''Hariri's resignation speech was written by the Saudis''

Hassan Nasrallah

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, has called the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri a "Saudi imposed decision". In a speech on the Hezbollah-owned Al Manar TV, said on Sunday that Hariri's resignation speech was "written by Saudis".
"It was not our wish for Hariri to resign," he said, "even if he was forced to resign, the way in which it was executed does not reflect Hariri's way in dealing with things,"
Hariri blamed interference in Lebanon by Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah for his decision to quit, in a speech last Saturday from the Saudi capital Riyadh. In it he said that he feared an assassination attempt.

Hezbollah commander Badreddine blown up in Syria

Hezbollah's top military commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in a blast at a base near Damascus airport, the Lebanese Shi'ite group said on Friday, one of the biggest blows to its leadership the Iranian-backed organization has ever sustained.
Hezbollah's deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said there were clear indications of who was behind it, and the group would announce the outcome of its investigation within hours. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. At least one Hezbollah figure blamed the group's age-old enemy Israel, which has struck Hezbollah targets in Syria several times in the past. Israel declined to comment. Hezbollah also has many other foes in Syria, where it fights in support of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Thousands of Hezbollah fighters and leaders gathered at a mosque in Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut and gave Badreddine a military funeral, waving Hezbollah flags. They chanted Shi'ite religious slogans, as well as "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". Speaking at the funeral, Qassem also vowed that the group would continue on the "path" of Badreddine.
In a letter, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif extended condolences "for the martyrdom of this great jihadist.
Badreddine, 55, is believed to have been in charge of Hezbollah's military operations in Syria.
He is the most senior Hezbollah official killed since 2008 when his brother-in-law, long-serving military commander Imad Mughniyeh, was blown up by a bomb planted in his car in Damascus that Hezbollah blamed on Israel.

At least four prominent figures in Hezbollah have been killed since January 2015. A number of high-ranking Iranian officers have also been killed, either fighting Syrian insurgents or in Israeli attacks.


Hezbollah said it was investigating whether the explosion at the base was caused by an air strike, a
missile attack or artillery bombardment. It did not say when he was killed.

Israeli operation kills 6 including Hezbollah operative in Damascus

The Israeli Air Force assassinated, on Saturday at night, the former political prisoner and senior Hezbollah leader, Samir al-Quntar, in an air strike in the Jermana area of the Syrian capital Damascus.
 The Hezbollah party in Lebanon said the Israeli Air Force violated Syrian air space at around 10:30 at night, and fired five missiles into a residential building, killing six people, including al-Quntar, and wounding at least twelve others.
The Civil Defense Forces in Jermana said two Israeli war jets violated Syrian airspace and struck the building with four missiles.
Initial reports were first unconfirmed, but his brother later announced on his Twitter account the confirmed dead of al-Quntar.
Samir al-Quntar spent 29 years in Israeli prisons, and was released on July 16 2008, under a prisoner-swap agreement reached through negotiation between Hezbollah and the Israeli government through a third party.