Israel On High Alert After Murder Of Top Hezbollah Militant

Jerusalem – Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the killing of Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus.

The Iranian ambassador to Syria, Ahmed Moussavi, has stated the killing of Mr. Mughniyeh was committed by Israel. “I am convinced that the martyr’s death of Mughniyeh will cause serious damage to the Zionist regime,” he wrote in a letter to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. “The enemies will pay a heavy price for the spilling of his blood, as they do for the spilling of the blood of other fighters.”

Israel has denied responsibility, even though some have termed it a “significant achievement” for Israeli intelligence (see below).

“Israel is looking into the reports from Lebanon and Syria regarding the death of a senior Hezbollah figure and is studying the details arising from this, asthey have been reported in the media in recent hours,” a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday. “Israel rejects the attempt by terrorist elements to ascribe to it any involvement whatsoever in this incident.”

The above statement contrasted with official American government statements in this regard.

“The world is a better place without this man in it,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. “One way or the other, he was brought to justice.”

However, security has indeed been stepped up at Israeli embassies and Jewish institutions around the world for fear of terrorist attacks after the killing.

Israeli intelligence has issued an emergency warning to security officers at all Israeli embassies, El Al offices abroad and Jewish institutions to remain on high alert for fear of terror attacks, even though Israel has denied any responsibility for the attack in Damascus.

Israeli athletes abroad have been informed that their security is being reinforced and have been advised to be on the watch for anything suspicious at their hotels.

Sources in the Israeli security establishment think the Hezbollah response could come in a few weeks or months.

Mughniyeh Was Followed

The newspaper Al-Hayat, which appears in London, reports that Mr. Mughniyeh entered Syria using a false name. Consequently, the Syrians did not know in the first few hours after the killing that he was the victim.

Last week, an Iranian source told the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat that Mr. Mughniyeh left Lebanon for Syria in January 2008 under a false name.

The Iranian source said Mr. Mughniyeh had been under constant intelligence surveillance when he arrived in Damascus for talks with Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal on the situation in the Gaza Strip.

The paper said Mr. Mughniyeh was probably under surveillance before he crossed from Lebanon into Syria. An Iranian source told the newspaper A-Sharq al-Awsat that Mr. Mughniyeh left Tehran about a month ago and went to Damascus for a consultation with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal about the situation in Gaza.

In Hezbollah, Mr. Mughniyeh was considered number two after Mr. Nasrallah.

Intelligence sources say that he did not need Mr. Nasrallah’s approval and that he conducted independent ties with the leadership of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and with the Iranian intelligence minister.

When Mr. Nasrallah needed the Iranians, Mr. Mughniyeh was the conduit, the coordinator and the mediator. He was the Iranian regime’s real confidant in Lebanon.

During the summer 2006 Lebanon War, Mr. Mughniyeh sat with the small military leadership close to Mr. Nasrallah. His involvement in running the military arm in recent years focused on running the military and intelligence connections with Syria and Iran. He was the man who was responsible for bringing sophisticated weapons from Iran to Hezbollah.

Mughniyeh’s Death Seen As Major Israeli Success

The Middle East Newsline assesses that the killing of Imad Mughniyeh was regarded by Western intelligence sources as the greatest success of Israeli intelligence in decades.

“Mughniyeh was considered untouchable and to most unrecognizable,” a senior intelligence source said. “This is a monumental intelligence achievement.”

For about 15 years, Mr. Mughniyeh, believed to have undergone plastic surgery, was not seen by any Western intelligence service, the sources said. He reappeared during a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Damascus in 2006.

On Thursday, Israel state radio’s military correspondent Carmella Menashe termed Mr. Mughniyeh’s killing as “a significant achievement for any intelligence service.” Menashe reported an Israeli military alert along the border with Lebanon.

Mr. Mughniyeh was sought by Israel and the United States for a series of mass-casualty strikes on several continents since 1983. They included the suicide bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut in 1983 as well as the destruction of the Israeli embassy and Jewish community center in Argentina about a decade later.

Since then, the sources said, Israeli and U.S. intelligence coordinated efforts to find Mr. Mughniyeh. The two countries were said to have cooperated in the assassination of other Islamic insurgency figures in Lebanon and Syria over the last four years.

Mr. Nasrallah appointed a replacement for Imad Mughniyeh a few hours after the latter was killed in Damascus, the Lebanese newspaper A-Safir reported on Thursday morning.

Where Will Hezbollah Attack?

The Middle East Newsline has confirmed that Israel’s military has assessed that the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah deployed a huge amount of missiles and rockets in southern Lebanon. Israeli military sources said the weapons included Russian-origin Katyusha rockets and anti-tank missiles, transported by truck from Syria and concealed in villages south of Lebanon’s Litani River. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has been informed of the weapons caches but refused to enter Shiite villages out of fear of attack.

U.N. Resolution 1701 forbids Hezbollah deployment in southern Lebanon.

Israeli military sources contend that Hezbollah has tripled its rocket and missile arsenal since the war in 2006. Hezbollah could have at least 35,000 missiles and rockets, many of them capable of striking central Israel.

For nearly two years, Hezbollah kept most of its weapons north of the Litani River, outside of UNIFIL’s area of deployment.

Hezbollah has replenished its arsenal of medium- and long-range rockets, particularly in the Beirut and Litani area, with rockets that include the Zelzal-2, were capable of striking Tel Aviv, the commercial center of Israel.

Bush Orders New Sanctions Against Syria

In what may not be a matter of coincidental timing, President George W. Bush has ordered new sanctions against Syria.

A White House statement dated Feb. 13 said that Damascus is sabotaging the efforts to stabilize the situation in Iraq, encroaches on Lebanese sovereignty, supports terrorism, arrests supporters of democracy and violates human rights in Syria. The sanctions imposed four years ago impose an absolute ban on exports to Syria (except for food and medicines), empower the U.S. to freeze assets of Syrian nationals who are involved in terrorism and limit connections between Syrian and American banks.

An open secret is that Syria plays host to 10 Palestinian terror organizations that remain on the list of terrorist groups that are defined by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Justice Department as illegal terrorist organizations, while Drug Enforcement Agency continues to define Syria as a leading conduit of marketing illegal and dangerous narcotics.

David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

Jerusalem – Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the killing of Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus.

The Iranian ambassador to Syria, Ahmed Moussavi, has stated the killing of Mr. Mughniyeh was committed by Israel. “I am convinced that the martyr’s death of Mughniyeh will cause serious damage to the Zionist regime,” he wrote in a letter to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. “The enemies will pay a heavy price for the spilling of his blood, as they do for the spilling of the blood of other fighters.”

Israel has denied responsibility, even though some have termed it a “significant achievement” for Israeli intelligence (see below).

“Israel is looking into the reports from Lebanon and Syria regarding the death of a senior Hezbollah figure and is studying the details arising from this, asthey have been reported in the media in recent hours,” a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday. “Israel rejects the attempt by terrorist elements to ascribe to it any involvement whatsoever in this incident.”

The above statement contrasted with official American government statements in this regard.

“The world is a better place without this man in it,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. “One way or the other, he was brought to justice.”

However, security has indeed been stepped up at Israeli embassies and Jewish institutions around the world for fear of terrorist attacks after the killing.

Israeli intelligence has issued an emergency warning to security officers at all Israeli embassies, El Al offices abroad and Jewish institutions to remain on high alert for fear of terror attacks, even though Israel has denied any responsibility for the attack in Damascus.

Israeli athletes abroad have been informed that their security is being reinforced and have been advised to be on the watch for anything suspicious at their hotels.

Sources in the Israeli security establishment think the Hezbollah response could come in a few weeks or months.

Mughniyeh Was Followed

The newspaper Al-Hayat, which appears in London, reports that Mr. Mughniyeh entered Syria using a false name. Consequently, the Syrians did not know in the first few hours after the killing that he was the victim.

Last week, an Iranian source told the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat that Mr. Mughniyeh left Lebanon for Syria in January 2008 under a false name.

The Iranian source said Mr. Mughniyeh had been under constant intelligence surveillance when he arrived in Damascus for talks with Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal on the situation in the Gaza Strip.

The paper said Mr. Mughniyeh was probably under surveillance before he crossed from Lebanon into Syria. An Iranian source told the newspaper A-Sharq al-Awsat that Mr. Mughniyeh left Tehran about a month ago and went to Damascus for a consultation with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal about the situation in Gaza.

In Hezbollah, Mr. Mughniyeh was considered number two after Mr. Nasrallah.

Intelligence sources say that he did not need Mr. Nasrallah’s approval and that he conducted independent ties with the leadership of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and with the Iranian intelligence minister.

When Mr. Nasrallah needed the Iranians, Mr. Mughniyeh was the conduit, the coordinator and the mediator. He was the Iranian regime’s real confidant in Lebanon.

During the summer 2006 Lebanon War, Mr. Mughniyeh sat with the small military leadership close to Mr. Nasrallah. His involvement in running the military arm in recent years focused on running the military and intelligence connections with Syria and Iran. He was the man who was responsible for bringing sophisticated weapons from Iran to Hezbollah.

Mughniyeh’s Death Seen As Major Israeli Success

The Middle East Newsline assesses that the killing of Imad Mughniyeh was regarded by Western intelligence sources as the greatest success of Israeli intelligence in decades.

“Mughniyeh was considered untouchable and to most unrecognizable,” a senior intelligence source said. “This is a monumental intelligence achievement.”

For about 15 years, Mr. Mughniyeh, believed to have undergone plastic surgery, was not seen by any Western intelligence service, the sources said. He reappeared during a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Damascus in 2006.

On Thursday, Israel state radio’s military correspondent Carmella Menashe termed Mr. Mughniyeh’s killing as “a significant achievement for any intelligence service.” Menashe reported an Israeli military alert along the border with Lebanon.

Mr. Mughniyeh was sought by Israel and the United States for a series of mass-casualty strikes on several continents since 1983. They included the suicide bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut in 1983 as well as the destruction of the Israeli embassy and Jewish community center in Argentina about a decade later.

Since then, the sources said, Israeli and U.S. intelligence coordinated efforts to find Mr. Mughniyeh. The two countries were said to have cooperated in the assassination of other Islamic insurgency figures in Lebanon and Syria over the last four years.

Mr. Nasrallah appointed a replacement for Imad Mughniyeh a few hours after the latter was killed in Damascus, the Lebanese newspaper A-Safir reported on Thursday morning.

Where Will Hezbollah Attack?

The Middle East Newsline has confirmed that Israel’s military has assessed that the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah deployed a huge amount of missiles and rockets in southern Lebanon. Israeli military sources said the weapons included Russian-origin Katyusha rockets and anti-tank missiles, transported by truck from Syria and concealed in villages south of Lebanon’s Litani River. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has been informed of the weapons caches but refused to enter Shiite villages out of fear of attack.

U.N. Resolution 1701 forbids Hezbollah deployment in southern Lebanon.

Israeli military sources contend that Hezbollah has tripled its rocket and missile arsenal since the war in 2006. Hezbollah could have at least 35,000 missiles and rockets, many of them capable of striking central Israel.

For nearly two years, Hezbollah kept most of its weapons north of the Litani River, outside of UNIFIL’s area of deployment.

Hezbollah has replenished its arsenal of medium- and long-range rockets, particularly in the Beirut and Litani area, with rockets that include the Zelzal-2, were capable of striking Tel Aviv, the commercial center of Israel.

Bush Orders New Sanctions Against Syria

In what may not be a matter of coincidental timing, President George W. Bush has ordered new sanctions against Syria.

A White House statement dated Feb. 13 said that Damascus is sabotaging the efforts to stabilize the situation in Iraq, encroaches on Lebanese sovereignty, supports terrorism, arrests supporters of democracy and violates human rights in Syria. The sanctions imposed four years ago impose an absolute ban on exports to Syria (except for food and medicines), empower the U.S. to freeze assets of Syrian nationals who are involved in terrorism and limit connections between Syrian and American banks.

An open secret is that Syria plays host to 10 Palestinian terror organizations that remain on the list of terrorist groups that are defined by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Justice Department as illegal terrorist organizations, while Drug Enforcement Agency continues to define Syria as a leading conduit of marketing illegal and dangerous narcotics.

David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008