Hisham al-Labadani, secretary to Hamas terrorist figurehead Khaled Meshal, was reported by a Syrian opposition group to have been assassinated after being dragged from his car in Syria’s city of Homs.


The Reform Party of Syria (RPS) reported today that al-Labadani “was dragged from his car and shot dead in daylight in the city of Homs.”

According to the RPS,

Operatives close to the event told RPS that al-Labadani’s murder is a signal some in the Assad regime were sending to Hamas [for its] continued cooperation with the IRGC of Iran. The group, led by Mohammad Nassif Kheir Bek, has been promoting rapprochement with the west against the entrenched supporters of the Iranian influence in Syria who have gained key positions lately.

Homs is less than 50 km from Lebanon’s mountainous Northeastern border with Syria (Inset):

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Iran’s long history of military, financial, and terror support for Hamas is well documented.

On March 9, 2008, the The Sunday Times reported that a senior Hamas commander boasted that 300 of the organization’s “best brains” were secretly sent to Iran for military training from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard:

“Iran is our mother,” the commander said. “She gives us information, military supplies and financial support.”

The Sunday Times report said that since 2005, at least seven (7) separate groups of Hamas fighters trained with Iranian instructors so that they could be snipers, make explosives out of everyday items, and make deadlier rockets to use in terrorist attacks against Israel.

Israel has long known about Iran’s role in equipping, financing, and training Hamas terrorists to carry out attacks against Israel. The New York Times reported last August that:

Hamas has sent hundreds of its fighters abroad for military training, most of them to Iran, the Israeli Army’s deputy chief of staff says, and Israel has the names of more than 100 of them

Khaled Meshal, the Hamas terrorist group’s figurehead, has fled Syria for Sudan, according to a report from Galei Tzahal, the Israeli Army Radio.

It cited a report in Kuwait’s al Rai newspaper alleging that peace negotiations between Israel and Syria forced Meshal to leave Syria for Sudan.


al Rai suggested that the the assassinations in Syria of Imad Mughniyah in February, Hezbollah’s top military commander, and Syrian Brigadier General Mohammed Suleiman early last month, may also have been related to changes in Damascus.

In a classic example of quid pro quo, Hamas reportedly snags at least $20 million each month from smuggling operations running into and out of the Gaza Strip.


According to a report in Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff, Hamas is even said to be trying to “place the smuggling operation between Egyptian and Palestinian Rafah on an official footing” by having special oil pipeline tunnels set up to get fuel in from Egypt.

Arab sources say that Hamas’ civil defense chief Yousef al-Zahar and Rafah Mayor Issa al-Nashar were at a “conference organized by a Gazan human rights group under the banner: ‘The tunnels – advantages and disadvantages.’”

al-Zahar and al-Nashar were said to have “praised the tunnels as important conduits for weapons for the “resistance,” [i.e., Hamas terrorist operations and those by other Palestinian terrorist groups inside Gaza] but also pointed to the dangers inherent in their operation.”

The Iranian press maintains that Hamas Political Bureau Chief and Khaled Meshaal spoke from Damascus, Syria last week, coming to the defense of his terror group’s love for Iran (continued below)

Arab and Islamic countries should consolidate their unity and distinguish friend from foe, he said while addressing a ceremony held in the Syrian capital, Damascus, to commemorate the demise anniversary of the Founder of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, the late Imam Khomeni.

Iran has long-standing relationship with Hamas, providing the terrorist group with military and guerilla warfare training, a steady supply of weapons, as well as financial support.