DUBAI, 7 May 2004 — Syria has foiled an Israeli intelligence attempt to assassinate Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas who lives there, an Arabic newspaper reported yesterday. The London-based Asharq Al-Awsat quoted an unidentified Syrian source as saying security forces arrested a cell of Israeli intelligence agents a few days ago who used fake passports to enter Syria, which is officially at war with Israel.
“The cell was discovered and its members arrested by Syrian security forces who prevented them from carrying out the mission assigned to them by Israeli intelligence. This prevented the assassination attempt from being implemented,” the source said.
The cell members said they were Muslims and some were Yemenis, the newspaper reported, without giving further details. A Hamas official in Beirut said the group was not aware of any attempt on Meshaal’s life and that his aides had not been involved in thwarting such an attack.
“We have no information on this issue,” Usama Hamdan, Hamas head in Lebanon, told Reuters. “There has been talk in the press but if it is true, we have not been officially informed.” Israeli officials have vowed to kill leaders of resistance groups it accuses of responsibility for “terror acts”. Meshaal survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned Israel that Damascus would consider any attempt to kill Syrian-based leaders of Palestinian groups as aggression against the Arab state. Israel assassinated the Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and its Gaza leader, Abdulaziz Al-Rantissi.
Hamas, which has played a leading role in the Palestinian uprising against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, is sworn to the destruction of Israel and its members have been behind dozens of suicide attacks on Israelis. Syria regards Palestinian and Lebanese groups fighting Israeli occupation as freedom fighters. Israel and its US ally call them terrorists.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s representative in Beirut warned Israel and Lebanon yesterday to step back from launching a fresh border conflict, after a shooting incident and an air raid by the Jewish state.
The escalating attacks come despite signs Israel and Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah could be on the verge of an agreement on a final prisoner exchange and after a month of calm. “I want to emphasize with more strength the seriousness with which we view this situation,” said the envoy, Staffan de Mistura. “I’m calling on all parties to exercise the maximum restraint. We have to stop this dangerous escalation. We’re appealing to the parties to stop there and not to go further.”
The Israeli Army earlier said its soldiers had opened fire at dawn on a “group of suspects” approaching a position in the disputed Shebaa Farms area where the Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian borders intersect.
“The soldiers most likely foiled an imminent attack against their position,” an army source said. The Shebaa Farms area was captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War but is claimed by Beirut with the consent of Damascus.
