Israel Matzav

Zygier imprisoned because he botched operation to retrieve Sultan Yaqub bodies

According to the Australian television program that originally broke the story, Ben Zygier, the Australian-born Mossad spy who hung himself in an Israeli maximum security prison where he was known as Prisoner X, was originally imprisoned by Israel because he revealed the identity of a Lebanese spy who was arranging for the return of the bodies of Zach Baumol, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman, who disappeared during the Battle of Sultan Yaqub during the First Lebanon War in 1982. This is from the first link.

According to the report, in 2007 the Mossad recruited former Lebanese military leader Ziad Al Homsi through, what he claims were, operatives working for the intelligence organization in China and Thailand.

In strides to get ahead and please the Mossad, Zygier apparently revealed Al Homsi's name to a Lebanese Hezbollah agent who subsequently turned him in to Lebanese authorities. Al Homsi faced a 15-year prison sentence, but was released after only three years.

The Mossad wanted to utilize Al Homsi, who was well connected from his participation in operations against Israeli troops in the Bekka Valley where the remains of three soldiers killed in the Battle of Sultan Yocoub were believed to rest, ABC Australia reported.

Al Homsi reportedly said he was charged with the task to organize for the collection of the missing Israeli soldiers' bodies and to provide them to another Mossad-aligned party that would carry out the remaining recovery process.

Al Homsi claimed in the ABC report that he had worked as a double agent for Lebanon and its intelligence officials had supported his efforts to gain knowledge of the Israelis' bodies to be used for bargaining the release of Palestinian prisoners. 

 I thought I saw somewhere that Israel had denied this story, but I'm not finding it right now.

Labels: Battle of Sultan Yaqub, Mossad, Operation Peace for Galilee, Prisoner X

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:22 PM