MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-LEBANON-HEZBOLLAH Hezbollah supporters mourn top commander killed in Syria

Record ID: 135130

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-LEBANON-HEZBOLLAH Hezbollah supporters mourn top commander killed in Syria
  • Date: 12th October 2015
  • Summary: AL-LUWAIZEH, LEBANON (OCTOBER 12, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CROWDS MARCHING THROUGH THE STREET AND CHANTING WOMEN CRYING VARIOUS OF MEN LIFTING COFFIN OUT OF AMBULANCE/AUDIO OF GUNFIRE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SISTER OF HEZBOLLAH COMMANDER HASSAN AL-HAJ, SIKNEH HASSAN AL-HAJ, SAYING: ''He fought Israel and escaped with his life from the days of Lahed and the Israelis, in the
  • Embargoed: 27th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8MUX10BZJKPUP20A7X2ORV20L
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah mourned one of the Shi'ite group's top commanders on Monday (October 12) after he was killed fighting alongside Syrian army forces in Idlib province.
    Pallbearers dressed in camouflage military fatigues processed slowly to solemn trumpet music with the coffin of Hassan al-Haj, a veteran commander of the movement, which was draped in a yellow Hezbollah flag.
    Mourners waving Hezbollah flags threw rice on the coffin and recited Shi'ite Muslim prayers for the dead invoking the Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
    The commander's sister said Haj had been a fighter for Hezbollah since the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in the 1980s.
    ''He fought Israel and escaped with his life from the days of Lahed and the Israelis, in the days of fighting in Sujod and Aramta and Mleikh. He always escaped with his life. Thank God. And then he went to Syria and was martyred there," said Sikneh Al-Haj.
    Another relative said his death was a great loss to both Syria and Lebanon.
    ''He is a martyr and we envy him for it. What can I say? It is a loss for the country, for Syria and for Lebanon. Whoever knew him says good things about him," she said.
    The coffin was then driven through towns in southern Lebanon, Hebzollah's stronghold, in a convoy of black cars and ambulances.
    Haj was buried in his hometown of al-Luwaizeh in the Tuffah region two days after his death in clashes with Syrian rebels in Idlib.
    Hezbollah has played a crucial role fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the four-year civil war across the border.
    In the last two days, it has helped recapture territory from insurgents in Hama and Idlib provinces where Russian forces backing Assad have been bombing.
    Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said Haj, born in 1965, had in his 20s been a top commander in southern Lebanon in battles against Israel.
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