Dubai: The implications of the assassination of elusive Hezbollah commander, Imad Mughnieh, in a car explosion in Damascus late Tuesday, are difficult to predict before the details of the killing are revealed, analysts said on Wednesday.
Mughnieh, on the United States' most wanted list for attacks on Israeli and Western targets, was killed by a bomb attack in Damascus, Hezbollah said yesterday.
"The question is why [the killing] was carried out now," Syrian analyst Thabet Salem told Gulf News, relating the current tension in the region with the slaying. "Both Syria and Hezbollah were targeted" in the operation, Salem said.
Senior Lebanese columnist Hazem Saghiah said "information will be soon leaked to the Israeli and American media" and will help reveal details of the operation. "Mughnieh's death is a great loss for Hezbollah. it is a big shock for the group," said Syrian political scientist Marwan Qablan.
Hezbollah blamed Israel for the assassination, but the Israeli government denied any involvement. Reacting to Mughnieh's death, the White House said: "The world is a better place without this man in it." Mughnieh's funeral will be held today, the same day Leb-anon marks the third anniversary of former premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.
