Wednesday, 14 June 2006Abdi Noyan +ûZKAYA, JTW and News Agencies - The Lebanese Army Intelligence on Tuesday has uncovered a terrorist network that allegedly has connections with Israel's Mossad. The statement from the Lebanese army said the network assassinated several Hizbullah and Palestinian leaders, including the Islamic Jihad leader Muhammed Majzoub and his brother on May 26 in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.
The reported head of the network, Lebanese Mahmoud Abu Rafeh, confessed to the Sidon assassinations and Israeli connection on Tuesday, according to the statement.
The army arrested Mahmoud Abu Rafeh, a 59-year-old Lebanese citizen, who is a retired Internal Security Forces officer and former colonel in the Israeli-allied militia of former Southern Lebanon Army.
The statement added that members of the network has been trained by Mossad inside Israel as well as outside since 1999. "Several advanced telecommunication devices were confiscated from the suspect's house," the statement said.
The other assassinations were those of Hizbullah officials Ali Hassan Dieb and Ali Saleh in 1999 and 2003, respectively, as well as the 2002 murder of the son of a well-known pro-Syrian Palestinian militia leader, Ahmed Jibril.
The Lebanese officials, on the wake of the May 26 assassinations, had declared the likelihood of an Israeli involvement, but Israel denounced allegations.
The Israeli officials, on the other hand, haven't made a statement regarding the latest events.
Israel's Mossad has been frequently accused of organizing assassinations against the leaders of Palestinian groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It is widely believed that the murders of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Yassin and political leader Abdul Aziz Rantisi in mid-2004 in Gaza were also carried out by Israeli Intelligence.
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Wednesday, 14 June 2006
Abdi Noyan +ûZKAYA
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