(JTA) — Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah is claiming that Israel assassinated Hussein al-Laqis, the group’s technology and weapons chief, who died near Beirut.

Israel has denied involvement in the assassination.

According to Hezbollah, Laqis was shot in a parking lot outside of his home south of the Lebanese capital Tuesday night, and died Wednesday morning in a hospital.

“The Israeli enemy is naturally directly to blame,” the Hezbollah statement read, according to Haaretz. “This enemy must shoulder complete responsibility and repercussions for this ugly crime and its repeated targeting of leaders and cadres of the resistance.”

But Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denied the Hezbollah claim.

“Israel has nothing to do with this incident,” Palmor said, according to reports. “These automatic accusations are an innate reflex with Hezbollah. They don’t need evidence, they don’t need facts; they just blame anything on Israel.”

Laqis, according to Haaretz, was a member of the group’s military elite and was in touch with Syrian and Iranian government intelligence. His death is a setback for Hezbollah, which has involved itself heavily in Syria’s civil war, sparking violence in Lebanon.