An Israeli security source confirms to WorldNetDaily that Israel was behind the assassination of a senior Hamas official in the Syrian capital of Damascus, while Hamas vowed to strike Israeli targets to avenge the killing yesterday of one of its top terror chieftains.
Hamas leader Iz a-Din al Sheikh Khalil was killed when a bomb, apparently planted under the driver’s seat of his white SUV, exploded after he answered a call to his cellular phone as he was pulling out of a parking space in Damascus yesterday morning.
The Israeli government did not issue an official statement regarding the assassination.
Several Israeli politicians, including Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuval Steinitz and Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra took to the airwaves with general statements that they could neither confirm nor deny Israel’s involvement, while a spokesperson for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon initially said Israel had “no knowledge” of the car bomb.
But an Israeli security source told WorldNetDaily Israel was responsible for the strike, and said the Jewish state will continue to target Hamas in Syria.
Almost immediately, Hamas blamed Israel for the attack and issue threats of retaliation. At first, Hamas warned that Israelis traveling outside Israel would be targeted by the organization. But later, several Hamas websites and various spokesmen for the “Hamas political wing” retracted the threats, saying Hamas would stick to its policy of targeting Israelis only at home and in the territories.
The assassination on Syrian soil is a major policy shift for Israel, which has largely targeted Hamas leaders in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israeli leaders blamed Syria for a double suicide bombing by Hamas earlier this month, explaining that Damascus harbors several top Hamas leaders, including the overall leader Khalid Meshel.
Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Faysel Mekdad, told WorldNetDaily his country does not harbor terrorists.
“The different Palestinian organizations have information offices in Damascus,” he said in a recent exclusive interview. “These factions do not carry out military actions from Syria and are not getting any support from Syria. They are part and parcel of the Palestinian people.”
When informed it’s well-known Meshel is involved in planning terrorism, Mekdad said, “How can a leader in Syria or other Arab countries that I don’t want to mention, orient or make military operations somewhere else? I mean neither logistically nor financially nor from the communications point of view can he do anything like this.”
Israel’s ability to reach the Hamas leadership in Damascus is likely to further rattle the group after Israel killed Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Gaza leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, in missile strikes earlier this year.
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WND Staff