Hezbullah accuses Israelis of assassinating its senior military leader, Imad Mughniya, in Damascus, Knesset members congratulate Olmert

Hezbullah accuses Israel of assassinating senior Hezbullah leader, Knesset members congratulate Olmert

Date: 13 / 02 / 2008  Time:  12:07
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

After a 20-year pursuit, the Israeli intelligence services assassinated Hezbullah's military chief, Imad Mughniya, blowing up his Mitsubishi jeep in Damascus, Hezbollah officially announced on their satellite channel, Al-Manar.

A booby-trapped car exploded in the Syrian capital on Tuesday evening killing Mughniya and injuring another man, witnesses said. They added, "We saw security officials pulling out a corpse from the area."

Another eyewitness said, "Dozens of police and intelligence officers hurried to the place. People panicked because we were not used to such things in Syria."

The bombing took place in an upscale Damascus neighborhood, near an Iranian school and a Syrian police and intelligence station.

Who is Imad Mughniya?

Known by his nom de guerre, Hajj Radwan, the Hezbullah leader was born into a Palestinian family in 1962. According to the CIA, he was one of Yasser Arafat's body guards, and was one of the masterminds of the bombing of a French military base in Balabak, in Lebanon, and the bombing of the US embassy in Beirut in 1982. He was allegedly the architect of the blast at the Iraqi embassy in Beirut in 1985.

Mughniya was also accused, along with Hassan Izzuddin and Ali Uteiwi, of hijacking of a TWA passenger jet in 1985.

Though not well-known to the public, the CIA believed he was Hezbollah's military leader. The US government offered a 5 million US dollar reward for information about him. The reward was increased to 25 million after the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was considered, by US intelligence, one of the 22 "most wanted" people in the world.

Meanwhile the Israeli Knesset witnessed an unprecedented event when members of the Knesset rushed to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to congratulate him upon his arrival to the main hall after Mughniya's death was announced. The Prime Minister's reasons for being at the Knesset at that time were unclear.

Knesset protocol dictates that at least 50 members of the Knesset must ask for Olmert's attendance for him to come to the main hall. In other cases, the Prime Minister appears when heated debates are taking place inside the Knesset.

This time, however, the Prime Minister appeared in the Knesset as soon as it was announced that Mughniya had been killed. Many Knesset members, including members of the Likud party, lined up and started shaking his hand and congratulating him one after the other. Some even asked him to extend their congratulations to the Mosad Chief Meir Dagan. Olmert appeared comfortable with a smile on his face. However, he refused to either deny or admit that Israel was behind the assassination.

PLC slams the assassination of Hezbullah senior official

Wednesday February 13, 2008 22:40 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies saed at imemc dot org

The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC),  dominated by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), issued a statement denouncing the Tuesday night  assassination of Imad Mughniya, deputy leader of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah party, in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Al-Mughniya was killed by a bomb which ripped his vehicle in a neighborhood in Damascus.

The PLC said that this attack is “another Zionist crime against all Arab and Muslim fighters, and is considered a new proof that Israel is persistent to continue its violations to the basic principles of Human rights, and continues to violate the sovereignty of the Arab states”.   

The PLC called on the Arab and Islamic states to expose the Israeli violations against the Palestinian People and the Arab countries, and added that all Arabs and Muslims must now stand united to counter the “ongoing Zionist attacks”.

Imad Mughniya, known as Hajj Radwan, is one of the main leaders of Hezbollah and is believed to be responsible for external operations carried by the party. He was born in December 7, 1962, and joined Hezbollah in 1983.

He lived undercover as he was wanted by 42 states and was chased by the Interpol as it is believed that he participated in an attack against a Jewish center in Argentina in 1994. The attack left 85 killed and 300 injured.  

Israel claims that Mughniya is also involved in abducting two Israeli soldiers in 2006.

Meanwhile, foreign media agencies accused Al-Mughniya of hijackings and bombing the US Embassy in Beirut in 1983, while Washington accuses him of abducting a senior CIA official in Beirut in 1984.  

in June 1984, Fayiz, the brother of Imad and a member of the Islamic Resistance, was killed in an Israeli shelling in Lebanon.

 He was attempting to evacuate members of a wounded family after the Israeli army bombed his house and when the air force fired another missile at the area, he was killed in the second blast.

In December 21, 1994, Fuad Mughniya, the other brother of Imad was killed in a car blast in Beirut.