Imad Mughniyah

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Undated photo of Imad Mugniyah released by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
Undated photo of Imad Mugniyah released by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

Imad Fayez Mughniyah (December 7, 1962 - February 12, 2008), also transcribed Mughniyya, Mogniyah, Moughnie, (Arabic: عماد فايز مغنية‎), alias Hajj Radwan, was a senior member of the Hezbollah organization, a militant Shia Islamist group in Lebanon. He was alternatively described as the head of its security section, a senior intelligence official and as a founder of the organization. Described by journalist Robin Wright as a "master terrorist"[1], Mugniyah has been associated with the Beirut barracks and United States Embassy bombings in 1983, which killed over 350, as well as the kidnapping of dozens of foreigners in Lebanon in the 1980s. He was indicted in Argentina for his role in the 1992 Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires. The most high profile attacks for which it is claimed he is responsible took place in the early 1980s, shortly after the founding of Hezbollah. He is thought to have killed more Americans than any other militant before the 9/11 attacks, and the bombings and kidnappings he is alleged to have organized are credited with all but eliminating American presence in Lebanon in the 1980s.[2]

Information about him is limited. He is reported to have used the alias of Hajj by the American FBI,[3] and to have been called Abu Dokhan - Arabic for "smoke-bearer" or "father of smoke" - according to American fiction writer Richard Couch, allegedly because of his skill at disappearing when being pursued. Mughniyah was included in the European Union's list[4] of wanted terrorists.[5][6] and had a US$5 million bounty on the U.S. Most Wanted Terrorist list.[7]

Contents

[edit] Biography

According to his Lebanese passport application, Mughniyah was born in Tayr Dibba, into a poor family of farmers who harvested olives and lemons in the orchards of Lebanon's southern Shiite heartland.[8] CIA South Group records state that Mughniyeh lived in Ayn Al-Dilbah, a ghetto in South Beirut.[9]

Growing up, Mughniyeh was a popular boy with an athletic charm. Abu Khaled Ismail, a friend of his who knew him as a teenager said, "He was a natural entertainer." Ismail told Newsweek of a speech Mughniyeh delivered at a family wedding, where he was cracking jokes, working the crowd with a confidence unusual for a youth his age.[8]

By the mid-1970s, while still in his teens, Mugniyah organized a cadre of roughly 100 young men into a unit he called the "Student Brigade," attracting the attention of Palestinian militants camped out near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. The Student Brigade was eventually incorporated into Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17.[8] According to Eshmael, Mughniyeh's outgoing nature made him a favorite of Arafat's who he once heard openly boasting about the teenager's intelligence and skill. Mugniyah joined Arafat's retinue of personal bodyguards and shadowed the Palestinian guerrilla leader around Beirut's southern suburbs with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder.[8] In an article in the Jerusalem Post, Khaled Abu Toameh writes that Mughniyeh's role upon joining Force 17 in 1976 was that of "a sniper targeting Christians on the Green Line dividing West and East Beirut."[10]

During the Lebanese civil war, his father sold vegetables and the family was living in a home on Beirut's Green Line.[citation needed] Mughniyeh was a student in the engineering department at the American University of Beirut[11] in 1981 when the United States of America gave the "green light" for Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon in pursuit of the Palestine Liberation Organization.[12]

In 1985 Mughniyeh was working as the bodyguard for Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, a spiritual mentor to many in Lebanon's Shiite community whose political consciousness was on the rise. Fadlallah held no formal political role, "opposed violence and sectarian division, and defied growing Iranian influence in Lebanon." On March 8, 1985, the CIA carried out a reprisal operation funded by the Saudis, for the Marine barracks bombing of 1983, in which they attempted to kill Fadlallah by car-bombing. The cleric escaped harm, but the huge explosion wounded 200 and killed 80 in the poor Shiite neighbourhood where he lived. Among the dead were some of Fadlallah's bodyguards and Mughniyeh's close friends.[12] Roger Morris claims that this was a "turning point" in Mughniyeh's life and that it was after this event that he "joined the terrorist arm of the increasingly militant political impulse among Lebanon's Shiites from which Hezbollah soon emerged, and as the resistance movement's chief of security and intelligence, he joined one of history's more vicious chain reactions."[12]

[edit] Allegations of terrorism

Mughniyah has been associated with many terrorist attacks that took place in the 1980s and 1990s, primarily against American and Israeli targets. These include the April 18, 1983 bombing of the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed 63 people including 17 Americans. Agreement is not universal on Mughniyah's involvement as Caspar Weinberger, the Secretary of Defense at the time, told PBS in 2001, "We still do not have the actual knowledge of who did the bombing of the Marine barracks at the Beirut Airport, and we certainly didn't then."[12]

Mughniyeh was later blamed for the October 23, 1983 simultaneous truck bombings against French paratroopers and the U.S. Marine barracks, attacks which killed 58 French soldiers and 241 Marines. On September 20, 1984, he is alleged to have attacked the US embassy annex building. The United States indicted him (and his collaborator, Hassan Izz al-Din) for the June 14, 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, which resulted in the death of U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem.[13] He was also linked to numerous kidnappings of Westerners in Beirut through the 1980s, most notably that of Terry Anderson, and William Francis Buckley, who was the CIA station chief in Beirut. Some of these individuals were later killed, such as Buckley, who was brutally beaten.[14] The remainder were released at various times with the last one, Terry Anderson, released in 1991. Mugniyah has also been tied to the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 Americans and one Saudi citizen[15].

Mughniyah has been formally charged by Argentina with participating in the March 17, 1992 bombings of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 and the AMIA cultural building in July 1994, killing 86 people.[16] He has also been accused of orchestrating the 2000 abductions of three Israeli soldiers in the northern part of Israel and the kidnapping of Israeli businessman Elchanan Tenenbaum, and the more recent 2006 Israel/Lebanon conflict, killing eight soldiers and abducting two.

While the long international hunt for Mughniyah threw up many allegations, these have been denied or dismissed by Hezbollah. In a July 2003 interview of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the current Hezbollah leader told Nicholas Blanford of Time Magazine that the U.S. accusations against Mughniyah were "just accusations," and he questioned whether they could provide evidence to condemn Mughniyah. Nasrallah also stated that, "Hajj Imad is among the best freedom fighters in the Lebanese arena. He had a very important role during the occupation [of southern Lebanon by Israel]. But as for his relationship with Hezbollah, we maintain the tradition of not discussing names."[17]

According to Robert Baer, "Mughniyah is probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we’ve ever run across, including the KGB or anybody else. He enters by one door, exits by another, changes his cars daily, never makes appointments on a telephone, never is predictable. He only uses people that are related to him that he can trust. He doesn’t just recruit people."[18] He has been described as "tall, slender, well-dressed and handsome ... penetrating eyes," speaking some English but better French.[19]

[edit] Relationships with other organizations

Mugniyah has been allegedly linked to Palestinian actions, such as the Karine A incident in 2002, where the Palestinian Authority was accused of importing fifty tons of weapons. He was previously a member of Force 17, an armed branch of the Fatah movement charged with providing security for Yasser Arafat and other prominent PLO officials.

In mid-February 1997, the pro-Israeli South Lebanese Army radio station reported that Iran's intelligence service had dispatched Mughniyah to Lebanon to directly supervise the reorganization of Hezbollah's security apparatus concerned with Palestinian affairs in Lebanon and to work as a security liaison between Hezbollah and Iranian intelligence. Mughniyah also reportedly controlled Hezbollah's security apparatus, the Special Operations Command, which handles intelligence and conducts overseas terrorist acts. Allegedly, although he used Hezbollah as a cover, he reported to the Iranians.[20]

The European Union lists him as "Senior Intelligence Officer of Hezbollah".[21]

[edit] Actions of law enforcement

Various law enforcement agencies have attempted to capture Mughniyah. The United States tried to secure his capture in France in 1986, but were thwarted by French refusal to detain him.

The United States tried to capture him several times afterwards, the first being a 1995 attempt to detain him as the plane he was traveling on was supposed to stop in Saudi Arabia. However, Saudi officials refused to allow the plane to land. The next year, U.S. military personnel planned to seize him off a ship in Doha, Qatar, but the operation was called off. This plan, dubbed Operation RETURN OX, was carried out by ships and sailors of Amphibious Squadron Three (USS Tarawa, USS Duluth, USS Rushmore), Marines of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and Navy SEALs assigned to the U.S. Fifth Fleet. The operation was underway, but was canceled at the last minute when it could not be verified that Mughniyah was actually on board the Pakistani ship.

On October 10, 2001, Mughniyah appeared on the initial list of the FBI's top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by President Bush, with a reward of up to $5 million offered for information leading to his arrest.[22] This reward remains outstanding.[3][23]

The Israeli government has also made several alleged attempts to assassinate Mughniyah. His brother Fuad Mugniyah was killed in a 1994 Beirut car bombing. (Another brother, Jihad, was killed in a car-bombing assassination attempt on the life of Hezbollah founder Sheikh Fadlallah in 1985, this one rumored to be the work of the CIA via the South Lebanese Army.)

Recent articles by the Counter-terrorism Blog and by The New Yorker magazine[24][25] suggest that Mugniyah recently attended a meeting between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He was there representing Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to the same articles, Mugniyah had been informed that he was at the top of a US military and CIA assassination list. For this reason, he was said to avoid certain areas of Beirut for fear of being killed by CIA SAD paramilitary operatives, or U.S. Special Operations Hunter/Killer teams.

[edit] Death

The fire immediately after the car bomb went off.
The fire immediately after the car bomb went off.

Imad Mughniyah was killed on February 12, 2008 by a car bomb blast around 11:00 pm local time in the Kfar Suseh neighborhood of Damascus, Syria.[26][27] He had reportedly been the target of the Israeli Mossad in the 1990s,[28] but Israel denied being behind the killing, although Mossad chief Meir Dagan was received and congratulated by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the hours following the attack.[27] The U.S. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell suggested that internal Hezbollah factions or Syria may be to blame for the killing. [29]

At Mugniyah's funeral, Hassan Nasrallah, appeared via video link and in the lengthy eulogy he delivered for his fallen comrade, he declared: "Zionists, if you want an open war, let it be an open war anywhere."[8]


Danny Yatom, former head of Israel's foreign intelligence service, the Mossad, said, "He was one of the most dangerous terrorists ever on Earth."[30]

Lebanese senior cleric Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said after hearing of his death that "the resistance has lost one of its pillars."[31]

Iran has condemned the killing describing the attack as "yet another brazen example of organised state terrorism by the Zionist regime".[32]

The United States applauded the killing, with Assistant Secretary of State Sean McCormack saying "one way or another he was brought to justice."[33]

According to The Sunday Times, Mughinyah was at a reception marking the 29th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution hosted by Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hojatoleslam Ahmad Musavi.[citation needed] Mughinyah left at 10:35 pm and went to his silver Mitsubishi Pajero nearby. The current Syrian investigation is reported to have found that he was killed by a car bomb parked nearby, and detonated by remote.[34]

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported that Hezbollah sources said they would retaliate for Mughniyah's death by assassinating Israeli leaders.[35]

On February 27 Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that several Arab states helped the Mossad carry out the bombing.[36]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wright, Robin, Sacred Rage, Simon & Schuster, 2001, p.270
  2. ^ "Mughnieh murder could trigger retaliation", By Nicholas Blanford - TCSM, 02.16.2008
  3. ^ a b Federal Bureau of Investigation www.globalsecurity.org Accessed August 17, 2006
  4. ^ European Union, Council Common Position 2001/931/CFSP of 27 December 2001 on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism Freezing funds: list of terrorists and terrorist groups Accessed August 17, 2006
  5. ^ Council Common Position 2005/427/CFSP of 6 June 2005 Official Journal L 144 , 08/06/2005 P. 0054 - 0058 Accessed August 17, 2006
  6. ^ COUNCIL COMMON POSITION 2005/847/CFSP of 29 November 2005 Official Journal of the European Union Accessed August 17, 2006
  7. ^ Hezbollah commander on FBI terrorist list killed, http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/13/hezbollah/index.html?iref=mpstoryview, CNN, February 13, 2008
  8. ^ a b c d e Kevin Peraino (February 25, 2008). The Fox is Hunted Down. Newsweek.
  9. ^ Baer, Robert (2002). See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism. New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 1-4000-4684-X.  p. 98–99
  10. ^ Toameh, Khaled Abu. "Arafat's 'fox' running rocket unit", The Jerusalem Post, 2006-07-29. Retrieved on 2008-02-13. 
  11. ^ Risen, James. "A Nation Challenged: A Suspect; U.S. Traces Iran's Ties to Terror Through a Lebanese", New York Times, 2002-01-17. Retrieved on 2008-02-13. 
  12. ^ a b c d The Assassination of Mughniyeh: A Death in Damascus (February 25, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  13. ^ Norton, Augustus (2007). Hezbollah: A Short History. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-13124-4.  p. 77
  14. ^ Martin, David C. and Walcott, John, "Best Laid Plans: The Inside Story of America's War Against Terrorism," Harper & Row, (1988), pp. 154-55, 233
  15. ^ In The Party Of God (Part I) (October 14, 2002). In The Party Of God (Part I) (English). The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  16. ^ Norton, Augustus Richard, Hezbollah: A Short History, Princeton University Press, 2007, p.79
  17. ^ Nicholas Blanford (13 February 2008). Hizballah Mourns Its Shadowy Hero. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
  18. ^ Shadow Warriors, Dan Rather Reports - CBS News
  19. ^ According to hostage David Jacobsen. Wright, Robin, Sacred Rage, Simon and Schuster, (2001), p.274
  20. ^ Rex A. Hudson, Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, September 1999 The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who becomes a terrorist and why? Accessed August 17, 2006
  21. ^ COUNCIL COMMON POSITION 2005/847/CFSP of 29 November 2005 Official Journal of the European Union Accessed August 17,2006
  22. ^ BBC News, October 10, 2001 America's 'most wanted terrorists' Accessed August 17, 2006
  23. ^ Rewards for Justice Imad Fayez Mugniyah Accessed August 17, 2006
  24. ^ The New Yorker, Issue of 2002-10-14 and 21 In The Party Of God part 1 Accessed September 1, 2006
  25. ^ The New Yorker, Issue of 2002-10-28 In The Party Of God part 2 Accessed September 1, 2006
  26. ^ "Hezbollah's most wanted commander killed in Syria bomb", Reuters, February 13, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-13. 
  27. ^ a b Powell, Robyn; Chivers, Tom. "Israel denies assassinating Hizbollah chief", The Telegraph, 2008-02-13. Retrieved on 2008-02-13. 
  28. ^ "Hezbollah deputy leader was behind string of terror attacks", Haaretz, 2008-02-13. Retrieved on 2008-02-13. 
  29. ^ U.S. spy chief: Hezbollah may be behind Mughniyah killing
  30. ^ Bombing Kills Top Figure in Hezbollah - washingtonpost.com
  31. ^ BBC NEWS | Middle East | Hezbollah's most secretive operative
  32. ^ BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Bomb kills top Hezbollah leader
  33. ^ BBC NEWS | Middle East | US hails Hezbollah leader's death
  34. ^ Stern, Yoav. "50,000 Hezbollah men said deployed along border with Israel", Haaretz, 2008-02-16. Retrieved on 2008-02-16. 
  35. ^ "Report: Hizballah threatens to assassinate Israeli leaders", Israel Today, 2008-02-18. Retrieved on 2008-02-18. 
  36. ^ "'Arabs helped Mossad kill Mughniyeh'", The Jerusalem Post, 2008-02-27. Retrieved on 2008-02-27. 

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