Grainy video has been purported to show the moment when Iyad al-Saleh, a Hezbollah official, was blown up by a car bomb exploding Sunday.
The alleged assassination was reported to have occurred in Syria, Open Source Intel tweeted while crediting Abu Ali Express for the video. (RELATED: US Drone Strike Killed Middle-Aged Shepherd Instead Of Al-Qaeda Terrorist Leader, Probe Finds)
WILD: WATCH
The assassination of Hezbollah senior Iyad al-Saleh occurred yesterday in Hasakah, Syria. Here is the moment when the luggage exploded in his luxury car.
Via @Abualiexpress pic.twitter.com/0nNLRMOeUc
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 6, 2024
The video showed a car pulling out of a parked position and going toward the street. It then suddenly and abruptly exploded. Multiple figures could be seen in the video running away from the scene.
Iyad al-Saleh was alleged to have been a Hezbollah official responsible for recruiting people to fight in northeastern Syria, according to Abu Ali Express. The outlet cited “Syrian sources” in its report. The explosion allegedly took place “inside a security compound under the control of [Syrian President] Assad forces,” Abu Ali Express reported.
The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based human rights organization that monitors developments in Syria, wrote that al-Saleh had sustained “severe injuries that resulted in the amputation of his feet” and was taken to a hospital. The explosion was allegedly fatal, Maariv, an Israeli news outlet, reported in Hebrew.
Hezbollah fighters have been openly operating in Syria since 2013 on behalf of the Syrian government, the Institute for the Study of War noted. “The [civil] war in Syria presents a significant, even existential, threat to this strategic alliance by endangering one of its primary members and the chief conduit for Iranian support to Hezbollah,” the Institute observed.
Hezbollah has also been actively firing explosive projectiles at the State of Israel since Oct. 8 in solidarity with Hamas. The Israelis have responded to these provocations by the Lebanese-based terrorist organization.