| January 2015 Mazraat Amal incident | |
|---|---|
| Part ofHezbollah involvement,Iranian involvement in theSyrian civil war,Iran–Israel conflict in theSyrian civil war, and theHezbollah–Israel conflict | |
| Location | al-Amal Farms (Mazraat Amal), Syria 33°14′N35°53′E / 33.23°N 35.88°E /33.23; 35.88 |
| Planned by | attributed to Israel claimed byAl-Nusra Front |
| Objective | To destroy aHezbollah field unit |
| Date | 18 January 2015 (2015-01-18) |
| Executed by | attributed toIAF claimed byAl-Nusra Front |
| Outcome | Hezbollah group and accompanying Iranian general killed |
| Casualties |  Six Hezbollah fighters killed, includingJihad Mughniyah and field commanderMohamad Issa[1] Brig. Gen.Mohammad Ali Allahdadi[2][3][4][5] |
TheJanuary 2015 Mazraat Amal incident was anairstrike against a two-car convoy that killed sixHezbollah fighters, including two prominent commanders, and a general of the IranianRevolutionary Guards (IRGC),Mohammad Ali Allahdadi,[2][3][4][5] at al-Amal Farms (Mazraat Amal) in theQuneitra District of Syria, in the EasternGolan Heights, on 18 January 2015, during theSyrian Civil War. The attack was largely attributed toIsrael, which did not officially confirm that it carried it out.[6] Hezbollah and IRGC held Israel responsible and threatened to retaliate.[7] On 19 January 2015,Al-Nusra Front member Abu Azzam al-Idlibi claimed thatJihad Mughniyeh and the other Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Al-Nusra Front ambush atJaroud in theQalamoun Mountains in theAl-Qutayfah District northeast ofDamascus, claiming that it "will be the end of the Persian project,God willing."[8]
Ten days later, Hezbollah launched anambush against an Israeli military convoy inShebaa Farms,[9] which was seen by many sources as a retaliatory action.
Since the beginning of 2013, Hezbollah fighters have operated openly and in significant numbers across the border alongside their Syrian and Iraqi counterparts. They have enabled the Syrian government to regain control of rebel-held areas in central Syria and have improved the effectiveness of pro-government forces.[10] Since 2013 Hezbollah has been pitted against al Qaeda-linked jihadists who have flocked to Syria from across theMuslim world.[11]
Hezbollah said that one of their vehicles was destroyed and another damaged.[1] Reports prior to the United Nations statement suggested an attack by an Israeli helicopter, but the later reports indicated it may have been by drones.[6]
A United Nations spokesman reported that theUnited Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) observed twounmanned aerial vehicles (drones) flying from Israeli-occupied WesternGolan and crossing the Area of Separation buffer zone towards UN position 30 on the Syrian controlled edge of the zone, where they lost track of them.[citation needed] An hour later they saw smoke coming from position 30 but could not identify the source. Later they observed drones coming from the area of position 30 and flying over Jabbata, in the Area of Separation. The spokesman stated that this was a violation of the 1974Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria.[12]
Amid official silence, a flurry of statements from anonymous Israeli officials has made contradictory claims. One said Israel had been unaware that an Iranian general was in the convoy.[13] Another anonymous senior Israeli security source said Israel believed it was attacking only low-ranking Hezbollah militants planning an attack on Israelis at the frontier fence, and that it had no idea the party contained prominent Hezbollah members, and least of all an Iranian general.[2][6] Alex Fishman wrote in Israel'sYedioth Ahronoth that "one official apologizes anonymously, the other official refuses to apologize anonymously. ... We are talking about a potential war and the heads of the state are playing hide and seek."[13]
Seven people were named as being killed.[nb 1] The Hezbollah members were field commanderMohamad Issa, also known as Abu Issa, "Jawad"Jihad Mughniyah (son of former top Hezbollah commanderImad Mughniyeh), "Sayyed Abbas" Abbas Ibrahim Hijazi, "Kazem" Mohammed Ali Hassan Abu al-Hassan, "Daniel" Ghazi Ali Dawi, and "Ihab" Ali Hassan Ibrahim.[14] The Iranian was Brigadier GeneralMohammad Ali Allahdadi (also spelt Allah Dadi),[15] a member of theQuds Force of theIranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was deployed to Syria to assist the Syrian government against the rebels in the civil war.[16] Hezbollah's Al-Manar news channel said that the attack occurred during a "field reconnaissance mission" by Hezbollah.[17]
Mohamad Issa was a 42-year-old from Arab Salim in theNabatieh District of southern Lebanon. His father was Syrian and his mother Lebanese.[18] He joined Hezbollah by the age of 15,[19] and rose through the ranks and took a leadership in many battles with Israel, including the2006 Lebanon War.[18] He was said to be leading Hezbollah's operations in the Golan at the time of his death and was the only one officially identified by Hezbollah as a commander.[19]
Jihad Mughniyah was 25 years old and a rising figure within Hezbollah.[19] His father was top Hezbollah commanderImad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated by a car bombing in Damascus in 2008. His fathers' two brothers, one also named Jihad, were killed in car bombings in 1985 and 1994.[20] His father had close ties to Iran and was said to report toQasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force.[21] Soleimani was very close toJihad Mughniyah after his father was killed, and reportedly adopted him as his son.[22] Mughniyeh was close toMustafa Badreddine,[23] the military leader of Hezbollah and brother-in-law of his father.[nb 2] Mughniyeh also had a close personal connection to Hezbollah leaderHassan Nasrallah.[24] With his high-level personal connections with Iran and within Hezbollah, and the status of his father, Mughniyeh was known as "the prince" in Hezbollah,[24] and many expected him to quickly rise within the organization to a position similar to that of his father.[19] After Syrian rebels capturedTal al-Hara and seized documents in October 2014, aSyrian National Council spokesman said that Mughniyeh was serving as Hezbollah's Golan District commander.[25]
Abbas Ibrahim Hijazi was a 35-year-old fromGhazieh in theSidon District of southern Lebanon. His father, known as Abu Kamal, was a founding member of Hezbollah. Hijazi had been involved in the 2006 war and had fought with Hezbollah against Syrian rebels inQusayr andYabroud in Syria in 2014. He was married to a daughter of Abu Hasan Salameh, a Hezbollah commander killed by the Israelis in 1999.[18] Mohammad Ali Hassan Abu al-Hasan was 29 and was fromAin Qana. Ghazi Ali Dawi was 26 and fromKhiam. Ali Hassan Ibrahim was 21 and fromYahmar al Shaqif.[18]
On 27 January, at least two rockets from Syria hit the Israeli-controlled Western Golan Heights, and Israel responded with artillery fire.
On 28 January, Hezbollahfired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli military convoy in the Israeli-controlledShebaa farms near the Lebanon border, killing two soldiers and wounding seven.[26] In response, Israel fired at least 50 artillery shells across the border into southern Lebanon, in which a Spanish UN peacekeeper was killed.[27]
Beginning in February 2015, Iranian and Hezbollah forces supported by the Syrian Government launched "Operation Martyrs of Quneitra" named after the combatants killed in the Israeli strike, with an aim of the offensive is the establishment of a Hezbollah controlled front against Israel.[28]
Israel – Defense MinisterMoshe Ya'alon refused to comment on the airstrike, but noted: "If Hezbollah says their people were hurt in the targeted killing, let them explain what they were doing in Syria."[29]
Iran – Iran's Supreme LeaderAli Khamenei posted on his Twitter account rare "unseen" pictures of him hugging and kissing Jihad Mughniyeh and his father, Imad. And in a stern message after the attack, Iran'sIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Ali Jafari reaffirmed the organization's commitment to continuing the struggle against the "Zionist regime" until its destruction. Jafari said: "[...] The martyrdom of the members of theUmmah constitutes a further springboard for the destruction of the oppressive, satanic, and terrorist political system of the Zionist regime [...] The martyrdom again proved that we must not distance ourselves from thejihad and that the Zionists must prepare themselves for the "devastating thunderbolt" of Iran.[30] A picture ofQasem Soleimani, head of theQuds Force, praying at Mughniyeh's grave was broadcast by Lebanese television channel Al-Mayadeen. He also met Hassan Nasrullah in Beirut 48 hours after the attack.[31][32]Hezbollah – Hezbollah reportedly called the death of Jihad Mughniyeh "an unbearable blow."[29]Hassan Nasrallah threatened to retaliate against Israel, stating the organization has "all (the weapons) you can imagine ... and in great quantities".[33] in a speech after theJanuary 2015 Shebaa farms incident, he said Israel had "planned, calculated and took a premeditated decision to assassinate" the fighters. He added that those killed in the attack showed a "fusion of Lebanese-Iranian blood on Syrian soil, and reflects the unity of the cause and the unity of the fate of the countries in theAxis of Resistance."[34]
Al-Nusra Front – On 19 January 2015, Al-Nusra Front member Abu Azzam al-Idlibi claimed that Jihad Mughniyeh and the other Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Al-Nusra Front ambush atJaroud in theQalamoun Mountains in theAl-Qutayfah District northeast ofDamascus, claiming that it "will be the end of the Persian project, God willing."[8]
Iraq – Iraq's Vice PresidentNouri al-Maliki offered condolences to Hezbollah Secretary GeneralHassan Nasrallah and the families of the party's fighters "who were martyred in Zionist aerial aggression on Syria's Quneitra". In a letter, al-Maliki said that the martyrdom of Hezbollah fighters is considered as a great pride for them and for the Lebanese people and as a painful loss for all the honorable. "The Zionist criminals and vampires must know that the pure blood of the martyrs, like Jihad Imad Mughniyeh, will augment the resistance in face of oppression, corruption, and tyranny," the letter read. "I offer congratulations and condolences to the martyrs' families, Hezbollah glorious fighters and to you over this great martyrdom."[35]| Background | |
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| 2024 Iran–Israel conflict |
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| 2025 Iran–Israel war | |
| Hezbollah–Israel conflict |
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| Israeli–Palestinian conflict | |
| Gaza–Israel conflict |
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| Syrian civil war |
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| Red Sea crisis | |
| International incidents |
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| Nuclear program of Iran | |
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