The IDF has publicly disclosed that Hezbollah's Unit 121, an elite assassination squad, systematically murdered two Lebanese customs officials and two journalists in an alleged campaign to cover up the terrorist organization’s role in the devastating 2020 Beirut Port explosion. The blast, caused by the ignition of thousands of tons of illegally stored ammonium nitrate, killed 218 people and wounded over 7,000.
IDF Spokesman for Arabic Media, Avichay Adraee, revealed that these individuals were targeted because they possessed evidence exposing Hezbollah's connection to the dangerous materials, which the IDF asserts were stored by the group.
Eliminating the Witnesses
The four victims were allegedly killed by Unit 121 operatives for exposing or attempting to investigate the terror group's links to the volatile cargo:
- Joseph SkaffSkaff, the former Head of Customs Inspections at the Port of Beirut, was allegedly killed in 2017, years before the explosion. Adraee revealed that Skaff was thrown off a building after he had formally requested the removal of the ammonium nitrate, the very substance that later detonated, which the IDF attributes to Hezbollah’s storage.
- Mounir Abu Rjeili, the Head of the Anti-Smuggling Unit at the Customs Department, was reportedly stabbed to death by Hezbollah operatives in December 2020. His murder occurred after he provided information linking Hezbollah to the circumstances surrounding the blast.
- Joe Bejjani, a photographer who was one of the first people to document the massive explosion and was later recruited by the Lebanese Army to aid in the official investigation, was shot dead in his car in December 2020. Unit 121 operatives allegedly stole his cell phone before escaping the scene, indicating an effort to seize or destroy crucial evidence.
- Lokman Slim, a prominent political activist and journalist, was an outspoken critic of the terrorist organization. He was shot dead in his car in February 2021, shortly after publicly blaming Hezbollah and the Syrian Assad regime for responsibility for the catastrophe.
Unit 121: The Death Squad
The IDF's detailed disclosure identifies Unit 121 as the operative force behind the assassinations. This unit is known within security circles as a highly secretive squad dedicated to carrying out targeted political and military killings under the command of Hezbollah's senior echelons.
The targeting of customs officials who tried to remove the ammonium nitrate, followed by the elimination of journalists and investigators who pursued the truth, paints a picture of a systematic effort to silence dissent and bury the truth about the deadly explosion. The killings demonstrate the ruthlessness of Hezbollah in protecting its operational security and concealing its presence within key Lebanese state infrastructure like the Beirut Port.
