Hizballah Feared on Warpath outside Middle East
DEBKAfile Intelligence
July 20, 2004
DEBKAfiles counter-intelligence sources report:
The Hizballah sniper attack that killed two Israeli soldiers at a Galilee border
position Tuesday, July 20, is not believed by Israels security leaders
to have exhausted the Shiite radicals desire to inflict punishment. Israeli
tanks and helicopters retaliated by battering four Hizballah positions inside
Lebanon, killing one operative. However, still unsettled is the Hizballah leader
Hassan Nasrallahs charge that Israel was behind the liquidation Monday
of one of their top men, Ghaleb Alawi, who was chief of the organizations
Special Group, outside his Beirut home. The State Department spokesman commented
Tuesday night that there is no evidence of Israels hand in the murder
Thats what they always say, he said.
However, proof or no proof, Israeli counter-terror authorities are certain Hizballah is plotting a large-scale outrage against an Israeli or Jewish target overseas.
Awali was the Palestinian terrorist organizations opposite number in Beirut. Known by his nom de guerre of Hajj, he was under the orders of the notorious hostage-taker and super terrorist Imad Mughniyeh. His assassins must have penetrated the most secret inner core of this clandestine body to knock off a prime asset like Alawi in the Shiite quarter of Beirut. Hizballah cannot let his loss go unanswered.
This week marked the tenth anniversary of the devastating blast that destroyed the Buenos Aires Jewish Center, killing 86 people and injuring 230. The perpetrators have never been brought to justice. The attack was orchestrated by Mughniyeh in revenge for the death of another senior Hizballah operative, Abbas Mousavi.
Security has therefore been stepped up for Israeli and Jewish institutions
worldwide, at holiday resorts and shopping centers frequented by Israelis, on
airlines flying to and from Israel and at airports through which large numbers
of Israelis pass.