The Israeli army accused on Tuesday a Hezbollah unit of assassinating four Lebanese figures who allegedly possessed information implicating the Shiite movement in the Beirut port explosion of August 2020, according to its Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, on X (formerly Twitter).
According to the Israeli army, Hezbollah’s Unit 121 allegedly targeted customs officials and journalists who could have revealed that the ammonium nitrate stored at the port had been kept there on behalf of the group. Among those mentioned is Joseph Skaff, former head of Beirut port customs, who was reportedly killed in 2017 after requesting the removal of the substance.
The Israeli army also cited Munir Abu Rajili, former head of the customs anti-smuggling division, who was stabbed to death in December 2020, as well as photographer Joe Bajani, who was shot dead in his car the same year after documenting the explosion and assisting the Lebanese army’s investigation.
It further attributed to Unit 121 the February 2021 killing of intellectual and activist Lokman Slim, a prominent critic of Hezbollah, shortly after he publicly accused the group and the Syrian regime of responsibility for the blast.
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