Gunmen slay Assad backer in southern Lebanon
Syrian state media reports Mohammed Darrar Jammo killed in home town of Sarafand
State-run media in Damascus reported Wednesday that gunmen have assassinated a prominent Syrian pro-government figure in southern Lebanon.
The SANA news agency said Mohammed Darrar Jammo was gunned down early on Wednesday outside his home in the coastal town of Sarafand.
Jammo, a political analyst who often appeared on Arab TV stations, was one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s strongest defenders.
According to SANA, “armed terrorists set an ambush to Jammo near his house and opened fire heavily, martyring him immediately” around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Jammo was head of the political and international relations division of the International Organization for Arab Immigrants, according to Al Arabiya.
Assassinations of politicians, army officers and journalists are not uncommon in Syria but the killing in Lebanon of a Syrian figure is a rare incident.
Sarafand is in predominantly Shiite southern Lebanon where Assad enjoys wide support.
The shooting is the latest spillover from Syria’s civil war, now in its third year, into Lebanon, where people are divided between Assad supporters and opponents.