beirut: Senior Hezbollah commander Sheikh Muhammad Ali Hammadi, who was on the FBI’s most-wanted list, was shot dead in front of his house in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday night, according to Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.
The report says Hammadi was gunned down by attackers arriving in two vehicles.
Hammadi served as the commander of Hezbollah’s western al-Baqaa region.
After the attack, Hammadi was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The motive behind Hammadi’s killing remains uncertain. While local reports suggest a possible connection to a family feud, no official confirmation has been made, and no group has claimed responsibility for the assassination.
Hammadi had been a fugitive on the FBI’s most-wanted list for decades. He was notorious for his involvement in a high-profile terrorist attack.
Back in 1985, he hijacked a West German airliner, Lufthansa Flight 847, which was carrying 153 passengers, including several Americans. During the hijacking, an American national was tortured and killed. Hammadi’s involvement in this and other acts of violence against Western targets earned him a spot on the US law enforcement agency’s list of wanted criminals.
Meanwhile, Israel said it will maintain control of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip during the first phase of the ceasefire with Hamas. A statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday denied reports that the Palestinian Authority would control the crossing.