Jihad Mughniyeh, a Hezbollah commander and son of notorious terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, was killed along with at least nine others today in Israeli airstrikes against a convoy in the Syrian section of the Golan Heights.

The Daily Star of Lebanon reports:

An Israeli helicopter strike on Syria’s Golan Heights Sunday killed the son of slain Hezbollah top commander Imad Mughniyeh and 9 other fighters, a Lebanese security source told The Daily Star.

Jihad Mughniyeh, field commander Mohammad Issa who goes by the nom de guerre “Abu Issa” and 7 other Hezbollah fighters were killed in the attack, the source said.

An Iranian field commander Abu Ali Tabtabai was also killed in the strike. The strike entirely destroyed one Hezbollah vehicle and damaged another, the source said.

Citing a Hezbollah media report, The Times of Israel offered some more details of the attack:

“A group of Hezbollah mujahedeen were martyred in a Zionist rocket attack in Quneitra, and their names will be revealed later,” said a message flashed on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar news channel.

They were killed during a field reconnaissance mission in the Mazraat Amal village of Quneitra province, it said.

While there is concern of retaliation by Hezbollah in Israel’s north, Israel has not ordered the opening of shelters, according to the Times. An Israeli “security source” told the Times that the group targeted was planning a major attack against Israel.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to speak tonight “announcing that Hizbullah will retaliate against Israel with a painful strike.” Naharnet reports that last week Nasrallah threatened Israel:

The attack comes a few days after Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened in an interview with the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen news channel that his group would retaliate against Israel for repeated strikes on Syria.

Nasrallah also told al-Mayadeen that Hizbullah has had Iranian Fateh-110 missiles that can hit the whole of Israel since 2006, adding that it is always ready to fight Israel.

The attack that killed the younger Mughniyeh comes nearly a year after Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, observed that “[t]here are signs that the Iranian leadership may be grooming Mughniyeh’s son, Jihad, to perhaps assume a leading role in the organization in the future.” In October of last year it was reported that Mughniyeh had taken over Hezbollah’s operations against Israel in Syria.

[Photo: flamenguita / YouTube ]