Hezbollah on Wednesday said one of its leaders had been assassinated near Beirut and accused Israel, the Lebanese Shiite movement's arch-foe, of being behind the killing. "The Islamic resistance announces the death of one of its leaders, the martyr Hassan Hawlo al-Lakiss, who was assassinated near his house in the Hadath region" east of Beirut, Hezbollah television channel Al Manar said.