Tuesday evening, Hezbollah announced that a senior member of the organization, Ali Hussain Nasif, aka “Abu Abbas,” was buried in the town of Budai in the Bekaa Valley, after having been killed in a “jihad mission,” reports Yoni Alper’s Terror Watch website.
Nasif’s rank was made evident by the caliber of leaders who participated in his funeral, including the town’s dignitaries, as well as the head of the Shura Council, Sheikh Mohammed Iazbk, and the head of the Political Council, Ibrahim Amin A Sayyed.
Hezbollah did not reveal Nasif’s cause of death nor the circumstances of his death.
Alper reports that Lebanese and Syrian opposition sources describe Nasif as occupying a central role in Hezbollah, which explains his role as the organization’s task force commander in Syria, responsible for coordinating Hezbollah operations in Syria with his counterparts at Syria’s military and security forces.
Nasif’s assignment included supporting Assad’s forces in their suppression of the popular uprising in the country and in fighting against the rebel army.
According to those sources, Nasif, along with his escorts and other Hezbollah members, were killed and wounded when a bomb exploded within a convoy of vehicles they were riding. The explosion occurred in the town of Kassir, near the Syrian city of Homs, during an ambush prepared by members of the Free Syria Army.
Nasif had a reputation as a tough warrior, and was previously involved in the fighting against Israel in south Lebanon. Among his duties was the hunting down and capturing of individuals wanted for their opposition to Hezbollah.
Alper mentions another version of Nasif’s death, according to a source whose reliability is not certain: that source has suggested that Nasif has died in Iran during an experiment with a new weapon Hezbollah is about to receive from the Iranians, possibly a chemical weapon.