Hezbollah Unit Accused of Kidnapping and Killing Elias al-Hasrouni

After over two years since his reported death in a car accident, the Israel Defense Forces revealed on Friday that Elias al-Hasrouni, a prominent figure in the Lebanese political party Lebanese Forces, was actually assassinated by Hezbollah’s Unit 121. According to IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, al-Hasrouni, who was known for criticizing Hezbollah, was attacked near his home in southern Lebanon, taken hostage, and murdered by operatives from the Iranian-supported group. As per Adraee's statement, al-Hasrouni was poisoned and sustained fractured ribs during the assault. To make it appear as though he died in a traffic incident, Hezbollah operatives returned his body to his vehicle, which was discovered crashed into a tree in a ditch by the roadside. Adraee also highlighted that Unit 121, Hezbollah’s surveillance and special operations division, is responsible for targeted killings of individuals such as journalists, military personnel, politicians, and others who oppose Hezbollah's authority and operations in Lebanon. This unit functions as the organization's internal terror branch, focused on pinpointing and eliminating dissidents. Furthermore, Adraee noted that the same unit was behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005. Ayyash, the commander of the unit, was convicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in 2020 for leading the group responsible for the bombing that resulted in Hariri's death. Adraee also stated that despite the setbacks suffered by Hezbollah in the conflict, the group persists in causing chaos in Lebanon and bolstering its power, partially through Unit 121's operations. Lebanese citizens aspiring for stability and progress recognize the necessity of denouncing this declining Iranian proxy that has entangled the nation in unnecessary conflicts, spies on the populace, and eliminates its adversaries. In the days after al-Hasrouni's demise in August 2023, the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that the inhabitants of Ain Ebel village, where al-Hasrouni resided, were confronted with rumors on social media suggesting that his death was not accidental but a result of abduction with his body disposed near his vehicle. At that time, a source linked to security informed Al-Akhbar that the case had been handed over to the intelligence division and surveillance footage indicated that two vehicles had trailed al-Hasrouni before he was kidnapped by unidentified attackers. In an interview released in April 2024, Lebanese MP Ghayath Yazbeck of the Lebanese Forces party directly accused Hezbollah of being responsible for al-Hasrouni's assassination.