BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Saturday blamed extremists for killing the group’s top military commander in Syria in an artillery attack. The movement has deployed thousands of fighters in Syria where Mustafa Badreddine had led its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad. “An investigation has shown that the blast that targeted one of our positions near the Damascus international airport that led to the martyrdom of Mustafa Badreddine was caused by artillery bombardment carried out by extremist groups,” a Hezbollah statement said. It did not name any particular group and there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. Hezbollah has been battling opponents of the regime including extremists from the Islamic State group and Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate.