Kifah Kayyal, the divorced Palestinian wife of Hezbollah commander Samir Kuntar, said on Monday that her ex-husband’s murder was justified, according to a report by Memri.
While Hezbollah and Syrian state media have blamed Israel for Kuntar’s death claiming he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Demascus on Saturday, the Israeli government has yet to confirm or deny any involvement in his death.
Kuntar’s ex-wife believes that regardless of who killed him, her ex-husband’s murder was justified because his intention was not to fight against Israel but to harm Syrians and the Palestinian people.
“Kuntar and Hezbollah are on the Arab land of Syria not in order to fight Israel, the Zionist enemy, or any aggression,” she said in an interview with the Saudi al-Arabia Network.
“They are there to fight the Syrian people and the Palestinian people. We show no solidarity with murderers. Murders should be killed,” she added.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah held Israel completely responsible for the assassination of Samir Kuntar and dismissed FSA claim in which the rebel group took responsibility for the assassination.
Nasrallah vowed to retaliate
The Free Syrian Army released a video clip on Monday morning claiming responsibility for killing Kuntar.
In a YouTube video featuring armed rebels from the Free Syrian Army, a spokesman denied Hezbollah’s claims that the Israel was behind the attack, saying instead that they had managed to assassinate Kuntar and his companions.
The Free Syrian Army said that “the Party of Satan,” a play on the meaning of Hezbollah in Arabic (Party of God), had made the claims that Israel was behind the assassination in order to demoralize the Free Syrian Army and undermine their rival group’s achievements.
The Free Syrian Army is fighting against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Hezbollah has sent thousands of its own fighters from Lebanon to Syria to bolster Assad. In addition Hezbollah has been training in south Lebanon and Bekaa Shiites from Afghanistan and Pakistan and sending them over to Syria.
Kuntar was convicted of carrying out one of the most daring attacks in Israeli history and spent nearly three decades in an Israeli prison.
Kuntar, known in Lebanon as “The Dean of Lebanese Prisoners” for being the longest-held prisoner in Israel, was killed along with eight others in the strike in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana Saturday night, Hezbollah’s al Al Manner reported on Sunday.
Kantar and four Hezbollah militants were freed in 2008 in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah in 2006, whose capture sparked a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah. His release was highly controversial in Israel, where he is believed to be the perpetrator of one of the most grisly attacks in Israeli history.
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