Senior Hezbollah member killed in home explosion
Bilal Hassan Abdo reportedly dies in the hospital after gas balloon blast in Sidon; security forces cordon off area
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
A senior member of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror organization was killed Tuesday following an explosion at his home in Sidon, Lebanese media reported.
Hezbollah sources told the LBCI news outlet that Bilal Hassan Abdo died in the hospital of injuries he sustained when a gas balloon exploded in his home.
Other media reports suggested the explosion may have been caused by munitions Abdo had in the building. Security forces cordoned off the area as explosive experts prepared to investigate the cause of the blast, Lebanon24 reported.
Video purporting to show the scene was posted on social media.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah organization is Iran’s main proxy in its support of Syrian President Bashar Assad an in its fight with Israel.
On Saturday Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned that the Lebanese terror group’s rockets could hit all of Israel.
“The forces of the resistance today have the ability, the power and the missiles to hit any target in Israel,” said Nasrallah.
The threat came amid almost daily warnings of conflict from Tehran and Jerusalem, heightened by an alleged Israeli strike on an Iranian base in Syria earlier in the month.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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