BEIRUT (AP) -- The top military commander of Lebanon's Hezbollah was killed in an explosion near the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Shiite guerrilla group said Friday, the highest-level casualty yet in its intervention in the raging civil war next door. The death of Mustafa Badreddine strikes a heavy blow to the militant group and underscores how its deployment in Syria backing President Bashar Assad has widened its circle of enemies beyond traditional foe Israel to include Sunni extremists and conservative Gulf monarchies. The 55-year-old Badreddine had directed Hezbollah's operations in Syria since its fighters joined Assad's forces in 2012, the group's biggest ever...
