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In apparent "work accident", top Islamic Jihad leader's house explodes

By Israel Insider staff  February 15, 2008

Ayman Fayed, senior terrorist of the al-Quds Brigades -- the Islamic Jihad's military wing -- was killed Friday evening along with several family members and Jihad terrorists in an explosion that destroyed their house the al-Bureij neighborhood in central Gaza. Palestinian sources reported that at least 40 others were injured. Although some unofficial Palestinian sources said that an Israel Air Force aircraft fired missiles at the home, Hamas police reported that the circumstances of the explosion were unclear. The IDF Spokesperson's Office said that it was unaware of an airstrike in that area. The Israeli Air Force regularly takes responsibility for attacks on Gaza terrorists, so the denial lends weight to the assessment that an airstrike did not cause the explosion. The Islamic Jihad said Fayed was among the dead, and that the group would carry out reprisal attacks against Israel. Witnesses said his three-story was flattened by the blast. Witnesses reported seeing fragments of what looked like locally-produced rockets at the scene, suggesting the house may have been used to store arms and that the cause of the blast may have been the stored arms.

Arch-terrorist explodes in Damascus, responsible for hundreds of murders

By Israel Insider staff  February 13, 2008

Imad Mughniyeh, Hizbullah's supreme commander and chief of operations, was killed in the heart of the Syrian capital when a bomb under the seat of his car exploded, apparently detonated by remote control. Hizballah accused Israel of the assassination, but Damascus -- embarrassed as it was when Israel cut through its air defenses last September -- merely reported the incident and said it was launching an investigation. Hizballah TV, by contrast, interrupted its broadcasts Wednesday to announce his death. Its leaders are reportedly conferring in Beirut on how to retaliate. A higher regimen of security has been imposed at Israeli embassies and Jewish centers around the world.

Complete article.

Syria vows to strike back at Israel for Imad Mughniyeh’s killing in Damascus and "repeated encroachments"

February 15, 2008, 12:44 PM (GMT+02:00)

Gen. Ghassem Soleimani, commander of the al Qods Brigades, heads Iranian probe

DEBKAfile's military sources report: Thursday night, Feb. 14, Syrian officials fanned out among Arab broadcasting stations with a warning: Damascus will attack Israel shortly following a decision by Syrian leaders to end its policy of restraint against its territorial violations.

Israeli land, sea, air and homeland defense units were earlier ordered to prepare to defend the country's northern borders against attacks by Hizballah, including rocket strikes, and Syria. Reinforcements were rushed to the north.

Israel has received a stream of intelligence confirmations that Iran, Syria and Hizballah have determined not to let Mughniyeh's death pass without an immediate response. They are working together to mount a revenge operation.

Western sources watching the funeral of the Hizballah commander Imad Mughniyeh earlier Thursday noted the absence of Hizballah's entire command echelon and the Revolutionary Guards officers serving at Iran's Beirut embassy. They were assumed to have gone to ground to plan a combined offensive against Israel whom they accuse of the Mughniyeh killing. Hassan Nasrallah's threats ('If Israel wants open war, so bit.") were broadcast by video

DEBKAfile's intelligence sources note that the way Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki stood at Thursday's Beirut funeral between Hizballah's Dep. Sec. Gen Naim Qassem and the slain terrorist's father and accepted condolences, confirmed Mughniyeh's high-value role in Tehran's foreign terror system. It also informed the thousands of Shiite mourners that Iran will be part of prospective retaliation for his death against Israel.

Iran and Syria have also linked their probes to find out how a hit-team penetrated the heavy security surrounding Imad Mughniyeh in an upscale Damascus neighborhood, planted a bomb in his SUV and detonated it by remote control.

Since Wednesday night, a visiting Iranian team has been at work in the Syrian capital headed by Gen. Ghassem Soleimani, commander of the al Qods Brigades, the Revolutionary Guards foreign terror arm.

Its other members are Adm. Mohammad Fadavi, Dep. Commander of the IRGC Navy, who set up the near-clash between Iranian speedboats and US warships in the Strait of Hormuz in January; and Gen. Morteza Rezai, former chief of the IRGC intelligence branch.

They are working with the Syrian team led by acting interior minister Gen. Bassam Abdul Majid.

After enemies threaten Israel with "earthquake", tremor terrifies Lebanese

A day after Sheik Hassan Nasrallah warned of "open war" against Israel, and Iran's ambassador threatened an "earthquake" against the "Zionist regime," Lebanese and Palestinians were terrified by a real tremor. The eastern Mediterranean trembled with a moderate quake just after noon, shaking buildings in Beirut and sending terrified Lebanese and Palestinians into the streets. The second tremor in a week, it was slightly stronger than Monday night's, which measured 4.0 on the Richter scale.
 

Complete article.

Major coup in war on terror: Notorious Hizballah terrorist hostage-taker Imad Mughniyeh killed in Damascus

February 13, 2008, 8:35 PM (GMT+02:00)

Rare photo of elusive terrorist Imad Fayez Mughniyeh

DEBKAfile's military sources report that Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, the Hizballah's supreme commander and plotter of major anti-US and anti-Israel terror operations in the last 25 years died aged 46 in a car bomb explosion in the Damascus district of Tanzim Kafr Susa Tuesday night, Feb. 12.

Hizballah TV interrupted its broadcasts Wednesday to announce his death, accusing Israel of assassination. Hizballah TV interrupted its broadcasts Wednesday to announce his death, accusing Israel of assassination. Its leaders are conferring in Beirut on how to retaliate. Special security imposed at Israeli embassies and Jewish centers worldwide.

The Iranian News Agency reports that Haj Hussein Khalil, the Hizballah's deputy for political affairs was killed in the same explosion.

Hassan Nasrallah will eulogize the dead man at his funeral in Beirut Thursday by video link. Beirut is already tense since the funeral falls on the third anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

On Aug. 5, 2006, DEBKAfile described Mughniyeh as the only undercover agent in the Middle East who enjoys the complete personal trust of both Iranian supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden. In recent years he has liaised between them. His death is a blow to both.

The elusive Mughniyeh surfaced before both of them on the Islamist terror horizon. In 1982, He orchestrated the suicide bombings of US Marine and French Beirut headquarters, in which 241 Marines and 58 French soldiers were killed, prompting a decision by President Ronald Reagan to evacuate US troops from Lebanon.

In 1983, he orchestrated the US embassy bombing, which killed 63 people and wiped out the top CIA Middle East staff. That year, the Israeli command center in Tyre was blown up killing scores of troops.

In 1985, the United States indicted him for hijacking TWA Flight 847 and the resulting death of U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem.

Mughniyeh was also infamous for numerous brutal kidnappings of Westerners in Beirut through the 1980s, most notably, that of Terry Anderson and U.S. Army Col William Francis Buckley, who was later murdered.

The dead terrorist's association with Tehran and its violent overseas exploits went back twenty years. In 1988, in collusion with Tehran, he organized the kidnapping of Colonel William R. Rich Higgins, the most senior American intelligence officer in Lebanon, who was tortured to death by Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen and Hizballah operatives.

The same partnership is believed to have staged the Khobar Towers blast in eastern Saudi Arabia on June 25, 1996, targeting US flight crews guarding Saudi oil fields. At least 19 Americans were killed and 200 injured.

Mughniyeh, acting for Tehran and Hizballah, was held responsible for the 1992 bombings of the Israeli embassy and Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, in which more than a hundred people died.

He planned the kidnap and murder of three Israeli soldiers eight years ago on Mt. Dov and his hand is believed behind the abduction of two Israeli reservists in 2006.

After numerous attempts to capture him, the FBI in Oct. 2001 put him on its list of 22 most wanted terrorists and a $25 million bounty on his head the same as for bin Laden.

The dead terrorist mastermind's first mentor was the Palestinian Yasser Arafat as a member of the Fatah's Force 17.

While America and Israel come first to mind as responsible for Mughniyeh's death, DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources note that a possible inside job is worth considering. Dissatisfied with his performance in the 2006 Lebanon War against Israel, Tehran deposed Hizballah's secretary-general Hassan Nasralah as its supreme commander and replaced him with Mughniyeh.

Nasrallah was confined to political functions, while his successor was assigned the task of rehabilitating Hizballah militia forces and preparing them for the next war on Israel.

The dead terrorist may have set up his headquarters in Damascus under the protection of Syrian and Iranian security services because he did not feel safe in Lebanon. Penetrating these two security belts to slay the wanted man was undoubtedly an exceptional intelligence feat.

Help Free Mansour Osanloo Iranian Labor Organizer

Reformist Website Khandaniha – Help Free Mansour Osanloo, Iranian Union Organizer:

Video by International Labor Federation

 Web site :khandaniha.eu

 

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