The IDF said Tuesday that a Hezbollah unit assassinated four Lebanese public figures to prevent them from exposing the group’s alleged involvement in the 2020 explosion at the Beirut port.
In a statement shared by IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee, the military said Hezbollah’s Unit 121 carried out the killings out of fear the individuals would reveal that the blast stemmed from ammonium nitrate stored by the group. The August 2020 explosion killed more than 200 people and devastated large parts of the Lebanese capital. Hezbollah has denied any link to the incident.
According to the IDF, the four victims were all either customs officials or journalists who had pointed to ties between Hezbollah and the blast.
The IDF said Joseph Skaff, the former head of customs at the Beirut port, was thrown to his death in 2017 by members of Unit 121 after he sought the removal of the group’s ammonium nitrate from the site.
Monir Abu Rajili, who headed Lebanon’s customs anti-smuggling unit, was fatally stabbed in December 2020. The IDF said he had provided information connecting Hezbollah to the port explosion.
Joe Bejjani, a photographer who was among the first to document the blast site and who was later employed by the Lebanese Army to assist investigators, was shot dead in his car in December 2020. The statement said the attackers stole his phone before fleeing.
Lokman Slim, a political activist and journalist known for his outspoken criticism of Hezbollah, was also shot dead in his car in February 2021. According to the IDF, the killing came shortly after Slim publicly accused Hezbollah and the Assad regime of responsibility for the blast.
The IDF said investigations into the killings were never completed. It added that the cases join the assassinations of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and political figure Elias al-Hajj, which Israel has previously attributed to Hezbollah, along with what it described as “a long list” of additional cases not yet disclosed.