Sunni cleric’s son killed fighting for Hezbollah

Sheikh Khoder al-Kabash is a Sidon-based cleric with close ties to pro-Assad figures.

BEIRUT – The son of a Lebanese Sunni cleric who supports Hezbollah has been killed fighting for the Shiite party in recent battles in Syria.

The pro-Hezbollah website SouthLebanon.org which publicizes funerals of the party's fighters killed "in confrontation with the mercenaries of disbelief and Wahhabism" – a reference to Sunni militants – announcedhis death on April 2.

“With all pride and honor, the Islamic Resistance of Hezbollah and the southern city of Sidon trumpet the martyrdom of one of its new heroic knights and leaders, the martyr and mujahid Mohammad Khoder al-Kabash the son of Sheikh Khoder al-Kabash,” the outlet’s death notice said.

SouthLebanon.org also revealed Kabash’s nom de guerre, “Zulfiqar,” which is the name of Imam Ali’s double-bladed sword and an important symbol in Shiite Islam.

The outlet did not mention where the young man was killed in Syria, however the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday reportedthat Hezbollah lost 12 fighters on April 2 in fighting south of Aleppo.

Kabash’s father, a Sunni scholar with close ties to pro-Assad figures in Sidon, received condolences for his son’s death over the weekend.

Sheikh Khoder al-Kabash receives condolonces from Shiite cleric Afif Naboulsi. (image via SaidaOnline.com)

Sheikh Afif Naboulsi—a leading Shiite cleric in southern Lebanon—told Sheikh Khoder al-Kabash that his son’s “martyrdom proves that Sunni and Shiites are one spirit in the fight against Takfiri terrorism.”

Khoder al-Kabash is known for his friendly relations with the Baath Party in Sidon as well as the leader of Popular Nasserist Party, a pro-March 8 party based in the southern city.

He also is a firm supporter of Hezbollah’s Resistance Brigades proxy militia, which was established in 1997 to recruit non-Shiite Muslims as combatants for the party.

The Resistance Brigades has stirred controversy in past months with its drive to recruit young Sunni men to fight for the party in Syria. 

NOW’s English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Amin Nasr translated Arabic-language source material.