Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., February 15, 2008 Adar1 9, 5768 | | Israel Time: 19:07 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
An undated photograph of Hezbollah military mastermind, Imad Mughniyah. (Reuters)
Last update - 09:23 14/02/2008
Israel embassies on high alert following Mughniyah killing
By Barak Ravid, Yoav Stern, and Amos Harel , Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies
Tags: mughniyah, hezbollah 

Israel's security services have issued orders to its embassies and delegations abroad to be on high alert following the assassination of Hezbollah terror leader Imad Mughniyah on Wednesday, anticipating the possibility that Hezbollah will try to carry out a major attack against Israeli or Jewish targets worldwide in response to the killing.

Israel denied Wednesday any involvement in the assassination of Hezbollah's most senior military commander, Imad Mughniyah, 45, in an official statement issued by the Prime Minister's Bureau.

However, Syria, Hezbollah and its patron Iran accused Israel of being behind the blast in Damascus, which killed the chief of operations of the Lebanese Shi'ite organization believed to be responsible for a decades-long series of mass terrorist attacks throughout the world.
Advertisement
Washington welcomed the demise of Mughniyah, who is believed to be the mastermind, most famously, behind attacks on the Marines barracks in Beirut in 1983, as well as the hijacking of American citizens in Beirut during the 1980s.

The assassination occurred late Tuesday night when the SUV Mughniyah had entered exploded in an upscale neighborhood of Damascus, not far from an Iranian educational institution.

Mughniyah was implicated in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine and French peacekeeping barracks in Beirut, which killed over 350 people, as well as the 1992 bombing of the Israel Embassy, and the 1994 Jewish cultural center bombing, both in Buenos Aires. More than 100 people died in those two attacks.

The United States indicted him for his role in planning and participating in the June 1985 hijacking of a U.S. TWA airliner and the shooting death of 23-year-old Navy diver Robert D. Stethem.

"The world is a better place without this man in it," said State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack. "He was a cold-blooded killer, a mass-murderer and a terrorist responsible for countless innocent lives lost."

Israel considered Mughniyah responsible for the Hezbollah raids which captured Israeli soldiers, both at Har Dov in 2000 and in 2006, and also the key liaison between the organization and Iran.

"He was not only being targeted by Israel, but also by the Americans and many other parties," said former Mossad head Danny Yatom on Israel Radio. "He was one of the terrorists with the most amount of intelligence agencies and states chasing him.

"He behaved with extreme caution for many years. It was impossible even to obtain his picture. He never appeared or spoke before the media. His identity was hidden. His steps were hidden," Yatom said.

In an official statement, the Prime Minister's Bureau denied any involvement in the assassination adding that "Israel learned from the Lebanese and Syrian media about the assassination of a senior Hezbollah figure, and is still examining relevant details." The statement also rejected "the attempt by terrorist organizations to attribute to it any involvement in this incident. We have nothing further to add."

Israel's denials do not seem to have affected the impression in the Arab world and Iran that its secret service was behind the killing.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammed Ali Hosseini, described the assassination as "yet another example of state-sponsored terrorism," and the kind of "organized crime" promoted by Israel.

Describing Mughniyah's actions and period as a senior commander in Hezbollah as a "golden age" in the period of resistance against Israel, Hosseini said that "the free nations will remember forever and with pride the path of this warrior martyr."

Syria's reaction to the killing in its own capital of one of the world's most wanted terrorist masterminds was surprisingly muted. The Syrian media did not announce details of the assassination or the identity of the target until well after the news had been released by media in the Arab world. Initially the Syrian Interior Ministry stated that a man was killed in a blast in Damascus, but did not identify him.

In the first official reaction, Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majeed condemned the attack as a "terrorist act," and said that an investigation was under way. "Syria condemns this cowardly terrorist act and presents its condolences to the Lebanese people and to the family of the martyr," the official SANA news agency quoted him as saying.

Hezbollah also blamed Israel for the assassination. Former Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said Wednesday that the killing is Israel's revenge for the "defeat" it suffered at the hands of the organization during the Second Lebanon War.

Hezbollah is set to hold an official funeral for Mughniyah in Beirut on Thursday at 2 PM, with the main event being a prerecorded address by the group's general secretary, Hassan Nasrallah.

On Wednesday, Mughniyah's coffin, draped in a Hezbollah flag and flanked by four men in military uniform, was displayed in a hall where his family and leaders of the Shi'ite group received condolences.

Related articles:
  • Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyah killed in Damascus blast
  • ANALYSIS: Mughniyah death could spark Lebanese civil war
  • ANALYSIS: U.S. involvement in Mughniyah killing still uncertain
  • Hariri memorial, Mughniyah funeral set to divide Beirut residents
  • ANALYSIS: Question now is not whether Hezbollah will respond, but how
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    'We lost a great leader'
    Dignitaries honor the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the U.S. Congress.
    Deadly incursion
    A mentally disabled Palestinian dies of wounds sustained in a West Bank IDF arrest raid.
      1.   Nassarellah is next 04:34  |  Jack 14/02/08
      2.   This is too much!!! he he he!!! 04:36  |  akiva (zionist) 14/02/08
      3.   No joking matter 04:44  |  Palestinian 14/02/08
      4.   ... the causality of Israeli Terrorism 04:51  |  POP 14/02/08
      5.   This proves the Arabs have the highest respect for 06:01  |  Nechama 14/02/08
      6.   Learn the Definition of Terrorism 06:04  |  Philo-Semite 14/02/08
      7.   #3, Arabs always make stupid a@@ threat like yours--that`s the 06:12  |  just mea 14/02/08
      8.   On the meaning of the word ... 06:17  |  Morris Valentine 14/02/08
      9.   It was the duty of every nation to kill this terrorist 07:29  |  Marwan مروان خوري 14/02/08
      10.   POP`s defense of the murderous coward shows his moral 08:05  |  Marwan مروان خوري 14/02/08
      11.   Philo-Semite, I`m chill like that... 08:08  |  akiva (zionist) 14/02/08
      12.   Syrian Response = a Classic 08:14  |  Tod Zuckerman 14/02/08
      13.   Yatom: "It was impossible to even obtain his picture." 08:18  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/02/08
      14.   The Arabs certainly know how to do it.... 09:02  |  Dolly 14/02/08
      15.   But is this progress? 09:30  |  Natallie Durson 14/02/08
      16.   positive 09:58  |  watcher 14/02/08
      17.   Hizbollah`s Reaction May Well Demonstrate its Role in Argentina 10:39  |  Tom 14/02/08
      18.   #15, Durson and progress 10:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/02/08
      19.   me and amir oren 11:15  |  bedlam 14/02/08
      20.   natallie durson "but is this progress" 11:17  |  bedlam 14/02/08
      21.   natallie durson "but is this progress" 11:18  |  bedlam 14/02/08
      22.   pope "the causuaty of israeli terrorism" 11:20  |  papal bull 14/02/08
      23.   Palestinian #3 11:28  |  Daniel Breslauer 14/02/08
      24.   there is a mathematical limit to israel`s power 11:29  |  mehmet 14/02/08
      25.   HEZBOLLAH IS DIFFERENT WITH AL-QAEDA 11:41  |  indrajaya 14/02/08
      26.   A murderer is killed... 11:59  |  Michael J 14/02/08
      27.   the arab world celebrates the killing of the monster 12:13  |  natke nir 14/02/08
      28.   #6 Philo Semite, What is objective reasoning 12:34  |  Edith 14/02/08
      29.   # 23 To the so-called "Daniel Breslauer".. 12:35  |  Hastaroth 14/02/08
      30.   Imad Mugnijah the ruthless murderer is dead. 12:37  |  Jean Van Daem 14/02/08
      31.   # 27, NATKE NIR 12:40  |  indrajaya 14/02/08
      32.   Mabrook to Israel!!! 12:45  |  SLAVO 14/02/08
      33.   Now Haniyeh has BODY PARTS of his own that he doesnt have to swap 13:14  |  Alan 14/02/08
      34.   thanks to our comrades 13:17  |  Leon Rosgarten 14/02/08
      35.   indrajaya 13:35  |  tommy soekarno 14/02/08
      36.   Daniel Breslauer 13:44  |  I 14/02/08
      37.   Israel is not responsible. 14:01  |  K 14/02/08
      38.   No One Mourns His Death Surely 14:18  |  Yaakov Sullivan 14/02/08
      39.   #12 "Cowardly act of terrorism" 14:22  |  MaryRose 14/02/08
      40.   Hezbollah will respond 14:42  |  JIM 14/02/08
      41.   JIM Hezbullies respond to Israel, whether we did it or not 14:53  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 14/02/08
      42.   #37 K 15:28  |  Paul Wood 14/02/08
      43.   the Hero Moghaniya 15:44  |  Ahmad 14/02/08
      44.   To K # 37 - TODAY is not Israel`s day...... 15:45  |  Dagma 14/02/08
      45.   To #41 15:52  |  Oleg 14/02/08
      46.   Blaming Israel while they still cannot find 15:55  |  Dolly 14/02/08
      47.   Ahlan ve Sahlan 16:37  |  GABE1 14/02/08
      48.   condocense 16:45  |  loushy 14/02/08
      49.   Smoldering the Flame of Accusation 17:00  |  The Archives 14/02/08
      50.   Reap the whirlwind! 17:24  |  Jason Silverstein 14/02/08
      51.   `The Martyr" 17:36  |  Michael T 14/02/08
      52.   # 18 - Kohn It`s just more tit-for-tat 17:47  |  Natallie Durson 14/02/08
      53.   mehemet, listen 17:51  |  charro 14/02/08
      54.   HEZBALLAH ATTACK US? 18:01  |  smart jew 14/02/08
      55.   Mehmet - I see you admire Iran 18:52  |  David Israel 14/02/08
      56.   Hyde Park vigil 18:54  |  Cyasher 14/02/08
      57.   Leon, was the tea good? 18:54  |  DavidAK 14/02/08
      58.   Mehmet and about your feelings for Mofaz 18:56  |  David Israel 14/02/08
      59.   #28 Edith 19:08  |  Philo-Semite 14/02/08
      60.   So he is dead. Now the rejoicing is over and then what? 19:25  |  Yaakov Sullivan 14/02/08
      61.   #46, Durson 19:44  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/02/08
      62.   david israel cut the nonsense 20:01  |  mehmet 14/02/08
      63.   Yaacov Sullivan- you start to raise a good question 20:31  |  Dorothy 14/02/08
      64.   61 dear cipora. i evaluate killing of 1 person 20:33  |  bozhidar balkas 14/02/08
      65.   in my opinion, 1 is talking ab. a fictitious 20:52  |  bozhidar balkas 14/02/08
      66.   Kuwait can rest 20:53  |  Q80 14/02/08
      67.   mofaz is a racist Buyukanit is a hero 20:57  |  mehmet 14/02/08
      68.   Mehmet - Buyukanit Turkish Mofaz Israeli hero 21:37  |  David Israel 14/02/08
      69.   Yes, we must recognize those who rise up against th Zionist enity 22:27