Israel Matzav

Imad Fayez Mugniyah dead

I've just picked up a report on the Internet that Imad Fayez Mugniyah, Hezbullah's master terrorist was killed today (actually last night) in a mysterious explosion in Damascus.

Imad Fayez Mugniyah was indicted for his role in planning and participating in the June 14, 1985, hijacking of a commercial airliner which resulted in the assault on various passengers and crew members, and the murder of one United States citizen.

That US citizen was Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem, who was shot while the hijacked plane (TWA Flight 847) sat on the tarmac at Beirut Airport and his body was dumped out of the plane.

Here's more on Mugniyah:

Imad Mughniyeh, Hizbullah's top commander in southern Lebanon, who was killed Tuesday night in a Damascus bombing is a veteran Fatah operative who was very close to former Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat when the PLO was based in Beirut, Fatah officials told The Jerusalem Post in 2006.

Mughniyeh, a former officer in Arafat's Force 17 presidential guard, has been in charge of Hizbullah's military operations in south Lebanon for the past decade.

"Imad Mughniyeh is the overall commander of the Islamic Resistance [Hizbullah's armed wing] in southern Lebanon," said a Fatah official who said he knew Mughniyeh well during the '70s and '80s.

"He's nicknamed tha'lab [the fox], and today he's considered the second important figure in Hizbullah after Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. We're very proud to have a Palestinian holding such a high position in Hizbullah," the Fatah official said.

Mughniyeh, who is believed to have been behind the abduction of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser on July 12 2006, is also reported to be in charge of Hizbullah's rocket unit in south Lebanon, which fired more than 1,600 rockets at Israel during the Second Lebanon War.

When the IDF forced the PLO to leave Lebanon in 1982, Arafat entrusted Mughniyeh with transferring the organization's weapons to Lebanese militias allied with the Palestinians.

Mughniyeh, who refused to leave Beirut with the PLO leadership, joined the the Shi'ite Amal militia headed by Nabih Berri. He and Nasrallah, who was then a member of Amal, later left the movement to form Hizbullah.

Born in the Lebanese city of Tyre in 1962, Mughniyeh did not attract attention until 1976, when he joined Force 17 as a sniper targeting Christians on the Green Line dividing West and East Beirut.

Mugniyah has since been implicated in numerous terrorist attacks against the US, France and Israel in which hundreds of people were killed. These include three in 1983: the bombings of the US Embassy in Beirut and barracks housing US Marines and French paratroopers who were part of the Multinational Force in Lebanon.

He has also been linked to the Karine A weapons ship that Arafat tried to use to smuggle arms into the Gaza Strip in 2001.

Hezbullah is accusing Israel of being behind the bombing. If so, kol hakavod l'Tzahal (congratulations IDF - or more likely the Mossad in this case).

A spokesman for Hezbollah said on its TV channel, al-Manar, Mugniyah was on Israel's hit list, according to al-Arabiya reports.

The blast in an upmarket area in central Damascus overnight left one man dead and two people injured, according to earlier reports.

A four-wheel drive Mitsubishi Pajero, which was parked in a street at a square, 300 metres away from an Iranian school, caused the blast, witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The blast occurred at 10.30 pm local time in the district that also houses offices of the Syrian intelligence services.

Mugniyah was reportedly a mysterious figure who did not make public appearances and worked secretly. He was accused of being the mastermind behind major terror attacks in the 1980s, mainly the attack on the US marines in Lebanon.

The blast comes ahead of the arrival of Iranian foreign minister, Manuchehr Mottaki, in Damascus where he was expected to meet Syrian officials as well as members of Hezbollah - one of Iran's main allies in the region.

Syria is a haven for senior members of radical Palestinian and Arab groups.

Terror attacks in Syria are rare as the country's security and intelligence bodies tighten the noose on all forms of opposition. A 2006 attack on the US embassy in Damsacus came as a shock to many Syrians.

Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:01 PM