Hezbollah fighter Zaid Jaber Shabib, aka “Abu Ali Haidar”. Via Twitter.
On March 28, Lebanon’s Hezbollah mourned one of its fighters which led to speculations on where and how he lost his life.
In a statement, the group said that Zaid Jaber Shabib from the southern Lebanese town of Jibchit, who was known by his nom de guerre “Abu Ali Haidar,” had “martyred” while carrying out “his jihadi duty.” No further details were provided by the Iran-allied group.
Several Syrian activists claimed that Shabib was killed in Syria. Some said that he lost his life in an attack by ISIS in the eastern Homs countryside, while others reported that he was killed when a blast hit his vehicle in an unspecified part of Aleppo countryside.
The announcement came less than a week after a serious confrontation between the United States-led Coalition and Iranian-backed forces in Syria’s northeastern region. During the confrontation, which took place between March 23 and 24, at least seven fighters aligned to Iran were killed in U.S. airstrikes on the governorate of Deir Ezzor.
This was the second fighter to be mourned by Hezbollah in the last few weeks. On February 24, the group announced the death of Ali Yahya al-Zein, also known as “Karbala”. Back then, several sources speculated that al-Zein lost his life in a series of Israeli strikes that hit the Syrian capital, Damascus, on February 22. However, Lebanese activists said that he was killed during an operational activity in South Lebanon, the heartland of Hezbollah.
Hezbollah remains engaged on several fronts in Syria. The group’s fighters are present around the northwestern region of Greater Idlib which is occupied by an offshoot of al-Qaeda, in the central region to combat ISIS insurgents as well as in Deir Ezzor and other parts of the eastern region to counter the U.S.-led coalition.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC:
