Less than a week after the assassination of senior Hizbullah activist in Beirut, a Tel Aviv security source is quoted as saying by The Sunday Times that the Israelis were “determined to put an end to the Hizbullah-Palestinian terror route”. The source added: “A campaign of targeted killings is about to start in Lebanon.”
The killing of Ghaleb Awalai - with a device detonated by remote control signalled a new campaign by Israel to eliminate senior members of the Iranian-backed Hizbullah, the London-based newspaper added.
It addwed that within moments of the explosion in the Lebanese capital a single word - “done” - was sent by text to the mobile phone of Mossad’s head of operations at the foreign intelligence service’s headquarters on the northern outskirts of Tel Aviv. He responded with a simple “well done” and hurried to report to Meir Dagan, the Mossad boss, the conclusion of months of preparations to kill an elusive target.
Awali’s presumed killers were already on their way out of Lebanon. Witnesses said the two - described as fair-haired, smartly dressed and of European appearance - had been seen nearby a week earlier.
Awali belonged to a secret section of Hizbullah called Inside Operations that works in the occupied Palestinian territories, the report disclosed.
Awali was in charge of financing and training Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories. The night before his death he had returned from Iran.
The importance of Awali’s role was revealed at his funeral on Monday evening by Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbullah chieftain. “Awali dedicated his time and his life in the past years to helping his brothers in occupied Palestine,” he told a crowd of 2,500 supporters who followed the body to its burial place in the village of Toulin. (albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
