British Daily Reveals Mossad Behind Moghniyyeh Assassination

While media outlets are preoccupied these days with publishing details of the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud Mabhouh in Dubai, and the time Dubai police is accusing the Israeli Mossad of standing behind the crime, British Daily 'The Independent' confirmed the responsibility of the mentioned Mossad in the assassination of Hezbollah top military commander Imad Moghniyyeh (Hajj Redwan) in Syria two years ago.

The daily said that in just 60 years, Israel's secret service has become a byword for ruthlessness and audacity. Yet, and as the storm surrounding its Dubai operation intensifies, Gordon Thomas, author of the definitive history of Mossad, reveals the inside story of its most daring hit in a book to be published within days.

According to the report, Martyr Moghniyyeh had been hunted across the Middle East and beyond by Mossad, the CIA and every other Western intelligence service for tens of years. But each time he came close to capture, he escaped, the trail gone cold.

"Then, in June 2007, came the break," the British daily claimed. It noted that since the end of the July 2006 war in south Lebanon, Mossad had been steadily recruiting Israeli Arabs in the West Bank. "One of the informers had a relative in a village near Moghniyyeh's birthplace. The cousin had told him that a friend of her family had heard that Moghniyyeh had travelled to Europe. He had sent postcards from Paris, Frankfurt, Munich and finally Berlin. It was little to go on, but it was a start."

"First a Mossad agent, a fluent Arab speaker, had travelled to south Lebanon and had met the informer's cousin. The agent had posed as an old friend of Moghniyyeh. Little more had emerged except that the cousin was certain Moghniyyeh was back in Damascus, but according to her friend's family, he now looked different."

The British daily said that Reuben, a Mossad agent in Germany, had been ordered to investigate the possibility that Moghniyyeh had visited Berlin to undergo further plastic surgery. Now, six months later, the katsa had the proof in the file his informer had handed over.

The daily added that on February 3, 9 days before the assassination day, the Mossad chief Meir Dagan chaired a meeting in the conference room adjoining his office. On the table were jugs of water and pots of coffee for those seated around it: they were the head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security force; the government's national security adviser; the political adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; and the military advocate-general to the Israeli Army. Among them sat a brigadier-general, the head of Mossad's kidon unit. Beside Dagan sat his director of operations. In a corner of the room was the table and chair usually occupied by the notetaker to record decisions and other discussions. "Now it was empty. There would be no record of this meeting," the daily said.

"Those around the table decided a car bomb would once more be the most effective way to carry out the assassination, " it pointed out. "But there were problems. Mossad's previous car bombing of Moghniyyeh's associates would undoubtedly have made him cautious about travelling anywhere in his own car. There was a possibility he would use the vehicle of one of his bodyguards. But there was no firm intelligence as to who they were or what type of cars they used. The information the Mossad agent had acquired that Moghniyyeh was back in Damascus looking "very different" would need to be checked so a plan could be properly developed."

"It was Meir Dagan who brought the discussion to a halt. He reminded others that in nine days' time, 12 February, a historic event would be taking place in Tehran and other Arab countries. It would mark the 29th anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran Revolution. In Syria a day of celebration would be marked by a reception at the city's Iranian Cultural Centre, given by the newly appointed Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hojatoleslam Ahmad Mousavi. It would be a fitting moment for him to be introduced to Imad Moghniyyeh."

"By Monday 4 February 2008, the kidon brigadier-general had chosen the three operatives he would use for the assassination. Each had been assigned a codename which matched the one-off passport he would have. The documents would be specially prepared by the Mossad travel department from the stock of passports in storage. Other documents provided details of their home addresses and occupations, " the daily revealed. "Pierre, the French passport holder, had an address in Montpelier, France, and was identified as a car mechanic. Manuel, the holder of the Spanish passport, had a home in Malaga and was described as a tour guide; Ludwig's German passport described him as living in Munich where he worked as an electrician. "

According to the report, Meir Dagan had tasked Israel's own spy satellite, Trescas, to mount surveillance in the area of Damascus where the Iranian Cultural Centre was situated. "At 7pm on Tuesday 12 February, the team were back outside the Iranian Cultural Centre. Ludwig took up position at one street corner, Manuel another. Pierre drove the hired car further down the street from where the oncoming traffic was approaching. He activated the bomb placed in the headrest. Inside the radio, the timer began to tick. It had a four-hour clock. It was now 7.30pm. "

"The passenger door opened and Imad Moghniyyeh emerged. He wore a dark suit and his beard had been neatly trimmed. He started to walk up the street toward the parked hired car. He was level with the vehicle when there was a huge explosion which blew the car into pieces and beheaded Moghniyyeh. Later, some of his body parts were found 20 meters away."

"Which of the kidon was the first to trigger the bomb would remain unknown. But before the first screaming guests ran from the Iranian Cultural Centre reception, and the police and ambulances arrived, the three assassins had vanished," the British daily concluded.