Slain Hezbollah chief’s son takes command on Israeli border

The son of an assassinated Hezbollah leader was appointed the organization’s commander of a district on Israel’s border with Syria, according to Syrian opposition reports.

Imad Mughniyeh’s son Jihad is serving as the Shi’ite terrorist group’s Golan District commander, Syrian National Council spokesman Mouayyed Ghizlan told CNN on Sunday.

He also warned that Hezbollah is expanding its operations on the Israel-Syria border.

The elder Mughniyeh was a shadowy terrorist mastermind regarded as the organization’s No. 2 leader. He was assassinated in a 2008 car bomb in Damascus. Hezbollah blames Israel for the attack, but no state or group has taken responsibility for it.

Israel’s borders with Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, and Syria have heated up in recent months. Last week, Hezbollah claimed a bomb attack against Israeli troops along the border that wounded two soldiers.

The statement said that the two bombs were planted in honor of Hussein Ali Haidar, a Hezbollah member who was killed in a September 5 explosion, which, Lebanese officials claimed, was caused when Israel destroyed one of its own surveillance devices that had been uncovered inside Lebanon.

The explosions Tuesday, in the contested Shebaa Farms area, also known as Har Dov, set off the second border clash in the area in three days.

Israel responded by shelling an area next to Kfar Chouba, near Shebaa Farms. In all, the Israeli army reportedly fired dozens of shells into Lebanese territory.

The clash came two days after a Lebanese soldier was lightly wounded by Israeli forces in the same area. The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that its troops opened fire on “suspects” attempting to cross the border from Lebanon, apparently hitting one and forcing them to retreat.

On September 23, the IDF shot down a Syrian fighter plane, which had been flying above the Israeli Golan Heights.

The army said the plane had infiltrated Israeli airspace before it was shot down.

It was the first such incident since the war with Lebanon in 1982, an army official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Other military officials said it was the first such incident since 1985.

Shells from Syria have landed sporadically on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights for the past several weeks as Syrian regime forces and rebel factions battle for the Quneitra crossing, with the rebels reportedly gaining control of almost the entire Syrian border with Israel.

Times of Israel staff and AP contributed to this report.