GAZA: Hamas says Israel has assassinated a senior Hamas military commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai

Record ID: 408376

  • Title: GAZA: Hamas says Israel has assassinated a senior Hamas military commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai
  • Date: 31st January 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FAYEQ AL- MABHOUH, BROTHER OF HAMAS COMMANDER, SAYING: "It's been ten days since the death of the martyr. At first, we had heard that it was a natural death, but from the first moment we believed that the Mossad was behind it. And now we accuse Israel, and the Mossad, specifically." MORE OF POSTER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FAYEQ AL- MABHOUH, BROTHER OF H
  • Embargoed: 15th February 2010 12:00
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  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA97WE8SDDY4ZCZMQSN17V1UTJO
  • Story Text: Israel has assassinated a senior Hamas military commander in Dubai, an official in the Palestinian Islamist group said on Friday (January 29).
    Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed on January 20, Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq told Reuters in the Syrian capital Damascus.
    The official said Mabhouh was an "important" member of Izz el-Deen al- Qassam brigades, Hamas's military wing named after a Syrian religious leader who fought British colonial forces in Palestine in the 1930s.
    In a statement to a pro-Hamas website, Hamas exile al-Rishq said they had evidence that Israel killed Al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas commander who masterminded the abduction of two Israeli soldiers Elan Saadon and Avi Sasbortas.
    Rishq was quoted on the website saying, "the blood of the martyr will not be wasted."
    Mabhouh was born 50 years ago in the Gaza Strip, but had been living in Syria since 1989. He was assassinated a day after he arrived in Dubai last week, Rishq said.
    In Gaza city, posters of the Hamas commander were plastered throughout his neighbourhood in Jabalya. His younger brother Fayeq who was denied a visa by the Egyptians to travel and attend his brother's' funeral told Reuters he believes the Mossad (Israeli secret service) is behind his brother's death.
    "It's been ten days since the death of the martyr. At first, we had heard that it was a natural death, but from the first moment we believed that the Mossad was behind it. And now we accuse Israel, and the Mossad, specifically," Fayeq al- Mabhouh told Reuters.
    Fayeq's house was decorated with posters of his brother and wreaths sent with condolences. The posters read: 'The leader fighter martyr.' Syria and Iran are the main backers of Hamas, which was founded two decades ago and now controls the Gaza Strip.
    Israel has killed a number of Hamas figures since then, but the group has refused to abandon its fight against the Jewish state.
    Rishq said al-Mabhouh engineered the capture of two Israeli soldiers during a Palestinian uprising in the 1980s and was imprisoned several times by Israeli forces. Israel razed his home in Gaza.
    Rishq lives in exile in Damascus, along with several of Hamas's main figures, including its leader Khaled Meshaal.
    Hamas has stopped short of calling for revenge for al-Mabhouh's death but have pointed the finger towards Israel. His brother said he would leave it to Hamas to investigate details of what happened.
    "We leave the investigation to the party concerned in the movement and to the armed wing Qassam Brigades and they are free to decide how to respond or how to avenge or the equivalent. And all I have to say now, Allah suffices me and he is the best guardian, and we belong to God and to him we shall return," Fayeq al- Mabhouh said.
    The United States, which has started a rapprochement with Damascus, wants Syrian authorities to help neutralise Hamas as an armed Middle East force.
    Syria, which is seeking peace with Israel, resisted U.S. pressure several years ago to expel the Hamas leadership and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said repeatedly that resistance was a legitimate right of the Palestinian people.
    Hamas also has presence in Lebanon. A bomb in Beirut killed two of its members in December.
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