Ripples of Dubai Killing Spread Across Region

[Richard]

And so it goes...

Richard

Ripples of Dubai Killing Spread Across Region
Paula Hancocks, CNN, 8 Feb 2010

A shadowy figure murdered in his Dubai hotel room by a hit squad that the police say operated with European passports. It sounds like the plot of a John Le Carré spy novel, but this is reality and the hunt is on for the killers of top Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Retracing his footsteps, here's the picture that emerges: al-Mabhouh landed at Dubai International airport on the afternoon of January 19. Then, a short drive to his hotel, the al Bustan Rotana, where just hours later he would be killed.

Dubai police say he was not traveling under his real name, so the hotel staff would have been unaware he was one of the founding members of Hamas' military wing and was wanted by Israel for more than 20 years.

According to family members, he booked a room on the first floor, making sure there was no balcony and that the windows were sealed so no one could enter.

His brother in Gaza tells CNN he never ate or drank in a hotel or on a plane as he knew he was a target. Dubai police say he then left the hotel, returning around 9:30 p.m. They want to know where he was during that time and, crucially, who he met.

Dubai police refused to talk to CNN, but they told al-Mabhouh's family there were signs of five or six electric shocks on his legs, behind his ears, on his genitals and heart. Blood on a pillow led police to believe he was suffocated.

Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan, Dubai's chief of police, has told local media they are looking for a professional gang, many of whom held European passports.

It's believed they left the country even before al-Mabhouh's body was discovered. Dubai police are working closely with Interpol to track the killers and have publicly voiced surprise that such a figure within Hamas was traveling without his own security.

At al-Mabhouh's funeral in Damascus, Syria, where he spent the last years of his life, few doubted Israel was behind the assassination.

At his family home in Gaza there is the same conviction that Israel's intelligence unit, Mossad, was responsible.

His brother Farq al-Mabhouh said: "If you know the purpose of his visit to Dubai then you know the result of 90 percent of the investigation. Some in Hamas say Dubai was a stop off for a third country he was traveling to."

The brother also claims al-Mabhouh ran a textile company, in addition to his Hamas duties, and that he may have been in Dubai for that reason.

Al-Mabhouh's father, Abed al-Rauf, told CNN: "There was an attempt to kill him in Lebanon and he survived, two other attempts in Syria and he survived. Israel has been after him for the past 22 years."

His mother, Fatima agreed, saying she has been expecting him to be assassinated for years.

Israel certainly has good reason to put him on its most wanted list. Al-Mabhouh was behind the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers in 1989.

Israeli security sources tell CNN al-Mabhouh was a key link between Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas and he was involved in smuggling arms to Gaza. The same sources also point out an arms dealer could have many enemies, not just Israel.

As is its policy on security matters like these, Israel will neither confirm nor deny any involvement in al-Mabhouh's death.

Analysts point to two benefits from this policy: there can be no international repercussions if there is no admission and even if Israel is falsely accused of an assassination, it can only help Mossad's reputation of being able to hit a target wherever and whenever it chooses.

But Mossad has had its public failures. An attempt to poison Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan in 1997 led to the capture of two Mossad agents. The late King Hussein then forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to send the antidote to save Mashal's life and to release Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheik Yassin. A few years later, Yassin was assassinated by Israel in Gaza.

Dubai police have said Mossad could be behind this killing on their territory and has warned Hamas and Mossad to stay away. But the evidence is not compelling yet to lay official blame.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/....death/?hpt=T2

[Marina]

I love stories with a happy ending!

[dr. mabuse]

*

[Dozer523]

My Blink says this was done by Iran.
This was set as a friendly meeting. He was probably told to come alone, "we guarantee your safety, but we gotta talk 'bout something BIG". That explains no personal security, the bottom floor hotel and the walk to a meeting site. No mention of struggle so he was returned to the room Post Mortum. after he walked to the meet, they took him somewhere else for his "big surprise". There they questioned him with a little help from the power grid then killed him by suffocation as a reward for giving it all up. (He didn't die during the interrogation.) They returned him to the room because they wanted him found. Blood on the pillow was leakage PM.
Bottom floor at hotel has about the same level of security as the cabana by the pool. A good PLF on to grass will work from second story and bed sheets will get you down from the third, and a light climbing rope is good for about 6.
Then again maybe he was just having trouble with his electric razor and bit his tongue.

[Marina]

Dubai's police chief said a hit squad carrying European passports and disguised in wigs, fake beards and tennis clothes was behind the mysterious killing of a Hamas commander in his hotel room last month.

Photos of the 11 assassins.

Authorities sketched out a highly organized operation in the hours before the killing, clearly done with advance knowledge of the victim's movements, and said the killers spent less than a day in the country. Forensic tests indicated al-Mabhouh died of suffocation, but lab analyses were still under way to pinpoint other possible factors in his death.

[mojaveman]

Sounds like the Mossad has been busy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100215/..._hamas_slaying

[incarcerated]

Originally Posted by Marina

Dubai's police chief said a hit squad carrying European passports....

A development:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...rder-hit-squad

Members of hit squad suspected of killing Hamas man 'had UK passports'

Adam Gabbatt and agencies in Dubai
The Guardian, Tuesday 16 February 2010
Six members of an 11-strong hit squad suspected of killing a senior Hamas military commander in Dubai entered the country using British passports, police said last night....

Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai's chief of police, said yesterday that 11 people, including one woman, were wanted over the killing. He said all suspects had European passports. In addition to the six British passport holders, three were carrying Irish passports and the two others were from France and Germany, Tamim said....

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150127.html

British sources: 'Irish' assassins in Dubai were likely Mossad agents

By Avi Issacharoff and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Last update - 10:59 16/02/2010
British government sources said Tuesday that the three Irish passport-holders accused of taking part in the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai last month were most likely Mossad agents carrying false documentation, according to The Daily Telegraph....

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Video:
http://gulfnews.com/gntv/news/the-mu...bhouh-1.583880

[sf11b_p]

It was McEnroe, Conners, Agassi, Nastase, the mastermind may have been Roscoe Tanner.

Ten men, one woman carrying various passports behind assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, local police say; 2 Palestinians detained in connection with killing. Assassins dressed up as tennis players, used advanced technology

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...849602,00.html

But Ireland is denying involvement.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...land-says.html

Some confusion of talking points in Palestine...

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has accused Israel of killing Mabhuh, 50, and vowed revenge.

Its members have said that Mabhuh, who was based in the Syrian capital, was on a visit to Dubai to buy weapons for the militant group's armed wing of which he was a founder.

Khalfan said on Tuesday that it was most likely that information about Mabhuh was "leaked" from people close to him, adding that Mahbhuh booked his hotel room just a day before his arrival on January 19.

Palestinian Authority police spokesman, General Adnan al-Dameeri, told AFP in Ramallah that Palestinian security authorities "confirmed information that two Hamas officers... were involved in the killing of Mabhuh."

On Monday Hamas official Ayman Taha told Al-Arabiya television that the pair, who were arrested in Jordan and handed over to Dubai, worked for the PA and took part in Mabhuh's assassination.

On Tuesday Taha told Al-Arabiya that Hamas "did not want to accuse anyone" apart from Israel.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...gTcBbqgUACH5kA

[SF-TX]

The murder of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh

Footage from CCTV cameras shows a chronological timeline of the events that took place on the day that Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh was assassinated.

Link

[incarcerated]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

Israel and the Dubai Murder Mystery

The circumstantial evidence all points to the Mossad, and the result is a diplomatic nightmare for the Jewish state.
OPINION
FEBRUARY 19, 2010, 11:52 P.M. ET
By RONEN BERGMAN
Israelis woke up Wednesday morning to pictures of 11 individuals plastered on the front page of every newspaper. The familiar guessing game began immediately: Don't I know him? Didn't we serve in the same army unit? Isn't that guy my geeky neighbor, the one who says he's an accountant? An acquaintance of mine swore she had dated one of the men. "He behaved exactly like you'd expect a killer to behave," she said.

Nearly everyone believes that the 11 alleged members of the hit squad that killed Hamas leader Muhammad al-Mabhouh last week in Dubai are Mossad agents. Seven of the 11 identities used were stolen from other Israelis with dual European citizenship.

The Dubai police chief has stated "with 99% certainty" that the Mossad is responsible and has promised to reveal additional evidence to prove it. The methods—including the use of false European passports—are certainly reminiscent of previous Mossad operations.

The mission was technically successful. The target was eliminated—allegedly smothered by a pillow in his hotel room—and the operatives left the country within hours. But it has turned into a diplomatic nightmare for Israel. The sovereignty of Dubai was violated, and the passports of four European countries were used for the purpose of committing a crime. Several rows Israel can ill-afford are currently brewing with England, Germany and France.

Israel, assuming it was behind the assassination, had good reason to want Mabhouh permanently out of the picture. He rose to infamy in 1987 by abducting and killing two Israeli soldiers. He then went on to become a central figure in Hamas's fund-raising operations.

Later, Mabhouh became a key coordinator of Hamas-Iran cooperation. In this capacity he organized the shipment of weaponry and other sophisticated equipment to Gaza and arranged for Hamas fighters to be trained by the Revolutionary Guards at a facility outside of Tehran. It was in connection with his Iran operations that he was in Dubai last week.

But even so, did Mabhouh constitute an immediate threat? Was eliminating him worth violating international law and risking the ire of so many states at a time when the international community seems to have finally gotten serious on Iran?

No country that faces the threat of foreign terrorism on the scale that Israel does can afford to entirely renounce the use of targeted assassinations, despite the ethical and legal problems that such executions raise. But such acts need to be extremely rare. In the case of Israel, such operations require the explicit approval of the prime minister, and they are authorized only after the political risks are carefully weighed. In the case of Dubai, it seems that this did not occur. Either the risks were not explained to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, or he made a serious miscalculation.

True, the details released by the Dubai police do not prove unequivocally that the people in the photos and surveillance videos were the ones who killed Mabhouh. There is no evidence directly linking them with the actual killing, nor with any crime beyond traveling under identities stolen from Israel dual-citizens who were nowhere near Dubai at the time. But the circumstantial evidence is strong: A group of 12—the 11 pictured and an additional unnamed women—acted in a highly coordinated and effective manner.

But the real, and so far unappreciated, achievement in this affair belongs to the Dubai police, who were able to integrate all the evidence at their disposal into one clear picture and do so with remarkable speed.

Whoever sent the hit squad to Dubai was not aware that the police and security services had such advanced capabilities at the ready. The investigators managed to put together still and video shots taken in seven different locations and place them on a single timeline together with the cellphone records of the individuals in the footage. Doing this requires sharp analysis and advanced computer skills, and computerized intelligence systems able to cross check information from various sources.

How did the Dubai police manage all this? Did they have help? For now, it remains a mystery. But in any case, misjudging the ability of the Dubai authorities so spectacularly is evidence of a serious intelligence failure on the part of the organization that sent out the squad.

The use of British passports is another issue that requires explanation. Back in 1984, a courier for a secret Israeli agency (not the Mossad) left a briefcase containing counterfeit British passports in a phone booth in Germany. The blunder tipped of the British authorities to the fact that Israel had been running agents inside a Palestinian cell responsible for killing a British citizen.

The Mossad station in London was closed down, and relations between the two countries went into deep freeze. Since then, the Israeli intelligence community has been under orders not to do anything that could upset the Brits. If Israel was involved in the Dubai operation, someone must have decided to countermand that order.

The most interesting question from the Dubai debacle is whether it will permanently affect the way operations of this nature are carried out by secret services around world. In a sense, this past week was the end of an era in undercover operations: It is no longer possible to carry out assassinations without leaving a trace.

The Dubai hit squad chose to carry out their mission in a hotel room, no doubt because they believed the setting provided them with the greatest degree of protection. But technology has turned hotels into centers of electronic surveillance, and it is safe to assume that in the future terrorists will regard the comfort of top-of-the-line hotels as safe havens. Those who hunt terrorists may be forced to practice their trade in the street, inevitably putting civilians at greater risk.

In addition to closed circuit TV systems and the ability to track cellphone and computer users, advanced biometric identification systems and online coordination across borders are becoming more and more widespread. Soon it will be much easier to identify and detain suspects in public places such as airports in real time. The technology isn't quite there yet, but it is close. Many casinos in the United States already use facial recognition software to identify undesirables, apparently with a fair degree of success.

These advancements should be welcomed; they make the war on terror a lot more efficient. The problem is that the same technological tools we use to thwart terrorists can also be used against the people whose job it is to stop them.

Mr. Bergman, senior military and intelligence analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli daily, is the author of the "The Secret War With Iran" (Free Press, 2008).

[Richard]

Sounds like a movie - Munich 2: The Dubai Sanction.

A thought - it sometimes pays to advertise.

Richard's $.02

[DJ Urbanovsky]

A murdering terrorist douchebag got himself murdered? I fail to see what all the hubbub is about.

The completeness of the information on this and the speed in which it was compiled seems kinda fishy to me.

Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned here? Like maybe don't be a murdering terrorist douchebag?

Originally Posted by DJ Urbanovsky

Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned here? Like maybe don't be a murdering terrorist douchebag?

There is a bigger diplomatic picture. Working theory is that the Mossad did it and got caught. The diplomatic problems are going to be a nightmare for Israel. The idea is to NOT get caught, and no one can lay blame on x or y. They can speculate till high heaven, but no one can prove anything. In this case there ARE videos, passport photos and now two former Gaza residents have been or are being sent to Dubai from Jordan where they were hiding to be interrogated. It is all unraveling. The bottom line here is to do your job and NOT get caught.

[incarcerated]

Much media and foreign gov’t consternation over forged passports…
Was senior Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh traveling with false documents, or was he traveling under his own name?
This strikes me as the international community’s usual anti-Israel double standard (no big deal if Hamas rockets Israeli civilians, but God forbid that Israel should mount a significant response.)

[alright4u]

Originally Posted by incarcerated

Much media and foreign gov’t consternation over forged passports…
Was senior Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh traveling with false documents, or was he traveling under his own name?
This strikes me as the international community’s usual anti-Israel double standard (no big deal if Hamas rockets Israeli civilians, but God forbid that Israel should mount a significant response.)

Sounds like CYA.