Hezbollah Denounces Killing of Islamic Jihad Commander in Damascus

Aswad was assassinated on Sunday morning in the countryside outside the Syrian capital of Damascus.

The al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad group, stated that Aswad was killed in a "cowardly assassination with bullets bearing the fingerprints of the Zionist enemy."

Hezbollah denounced the killing, saying that such targeted killings will not help the Israeli regime advance its "fiendish plots."

The group added that "such moves will heighten the vigilance of our peoples."

“The assassination was carried out by direct shooting near his house,” an Islamic Jihad official, who asked not to be named, told AFP news agency.

Aswad's family had been displaced from the city of Haifa in 1948 and settled in the refugee camps in Syria, where he joined the organization as a young man.

In November 2019, Israel launched a missile attack targeting the home of an Islamic Jihad official in the Syrian capital, killing his son and granddaughter.

Hamas, the Gaza-based resistance movement, thanked Iran for its unswerving support for Palestinians and their legitimate struggle against the occupying Israeli regime.

Khalil al-Hayya, deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip emphasized that the Islamic Republic has always stood by the side of the Palestinian nation and resistance groups.

He also hailed Qatar’s stance in supporting the Palestinian people and their just cause, stating that Saudi Arabia has opted to distance itself from Hamas even though the Palestinian resistance group holds great respect for the country as the birthplace of Islam.

Hayya also said that Turkey’s role is limited to humanitarian assistance to Palestinians through a number of charity institutions.

Last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian denounced the Israeli regime’s repression of the Palestinian people and reiterated the Islamic Republic’s support for Palestine.

In the wake of the deadly Israeli military raids at the Jenin refugee camp, Amir-Abdollahian strongly condemned the regime’s massacre of innocent Palestinian people in separate telephone conversations with Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, and secretary general of the Islamic Jihad, Ziyad al-Nakhalah.

During the phone conversations, the Iranian foreign minister also reaffirmed Iran’s continued support for the Palestinian people.