Distinguished Lebanese political activist Naqqash succumbs to coronavirus

Prominent Lebanese political activist and veteran campaigner in the Islamic resistance front, Anis al-Naqqash, has passed away at the age of 70 after contracting the new coronavirus.

Naqqash lost his brief battle to the highly contagious virus on Monday morning. He had been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital in the Syrian capital city of Damascus a few days ago.

Hailing him as a "thinker and freedom fighter," the official SANA news agency said he was "admitted into intensive care two days ago... because his health deteriorated as a result of Covid-19."

His body is going to be transported to the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Tuesday for funeral.   

Naqqash was born in 1951 in Beirut. He attended al-Maqasid al-Islamiyyah School and from a young age participated in protest movements, including a demonstration in solidarity with Algerian activist Djamila Bouhired, who opposed the French colonial rule of Algeria.

He joined the Palestinian Fatah movement in 1964, and was active in the anti-Israel resistance front. Among his activities to boost resistance against the Israeli occupation, he trained pro-Palestinian fighters at a training camp in southern Lebanon at the time.

Naqqash even went on a hunger strike to protest the inaction of Arab states, when commandos from the Israeli army's elite Sayeret Matkal destroyed 14 aircraft at Beirut International Airport at the evening of December 28, 1968. 

When the Israeli military invaded Lebanon in 1978, he moved to the southern part of the country and substantially helped the resistance against the Israeli aggression of southern Lebanon.

Naqqash then decided to leave Fatah and establish a Lebanese faction, but members of the Palestinian movement still paid great tribute to him despite his separation.

He established two groups in Lebanon’s southern towns of Kfarchouba and Bint Jbeil, whose members later formed the leadership of the Lebanese resistance movement.

Naqqash pledged allegiance to late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini following the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

He had an important role in facilitating coordination between Palestinian resistance groups and Iranian authorities, and had strong ties with Iranian officials.

He was very close to Imad Mughniyeh, a senior commander of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement who was assassinated at a joint US-Israeli car bomb attack in the Kafar Souseh neighborhood of southwestern Damascus in February 2008.

Hezbollah mourns demise of Naqqash

Later on Monday, Hezbollah resistance movement grieved the death of the distinguished Lebanese political activist and veteran resistance fighter, describing him as a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and the anti-Israel resistance front.

“The deceased was one of the most important thinkers and researchers in our region, and undertook many important researches and strategic studies, which qualitatively contributed to confrontation with the Zionist enemy,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

The statement added, “Anis al-Naqqash spent many years of his life as a resistance fighter. The Palestinian cause always remained in his heart and mind, and he used to mobilize freedom-loving people across the world to support it and defend oppressed Palestinians.”

“He valiantly defended the [anti-Israel] resistance in Lebanon as well as its political and military objectives in various local and international forums. He also stood by the Islamic Republic of Iran in the face of sanctions and aggression and defended its values. Moreover, he opposed plots against Syria, which were hatched through a war waged by the international and regional sponsors of terrorism.”

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