A very big fish indeed
If it is true, as Hezbollah is claiming, that its deputy chief Imad Mughniyah has been killed by the Israelis, this is an immensely significant development — a real blow against Iran and almost certainly an astounding coup for the Mossad.*
As Amir Oren writes in Ha’aretz, Mughniyeh was at the top of the FBI’s most wanted list, second only to Osama bin Laden and more important even than Hassan Nazrullah, Hezbollah’s leader.
Iran saw Mughniyah as a crucial asset. Along with the Iranian ambassador and the commander of the Revolution Guard Corps, Mughniyah served as the Iranian presence in Lebanon. All of the Iranian-planned terrorist attacks carried out by Hezbollah were masterminded by Mughniyah himself.His significance was not merely that he was held responsible for a long list of atrocities, including the bombings of the Israeli embassy and the Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994, a wave of abductions of Westerns in Lebanon in the 1980s, the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy and marine barracks in Beirut which killed over 350, and many more outrages. He was probably the most cunning, audacious and strategic terrorist in the world. Because of his outstanding demonic prowess and the fact that he was linked to al Qaeda (all those who labour under the delusion that Iran and al Qaeda could not be in alliance please note) there are those in the intelligence world who believe that 9/11 could not have taken place without his input. As the Jerusalem Post reports:
He also apparently had strong ties with Al Qaida and according to the testimony of Ali Mohammed, a senior Al Qaida operative who was arrested for involvement in the attacks on American embassies in Africa, Mughniyeh met with Bin Laden in Sudan in 1993. Hizbullah, Mohammed said, provided explosives training for Al-Qaida fighters. This relationship and the fact that Mughniyeh was Hizbullah's liaison to Al Qaida, has led western intelligence agencies to raise the possibility that he was also involved in the 9/11 attacks.The blow to Iran from his death is severe — a rare and serious setback for the godfathers of terror in Tehran. It is therefore a great victory in the war for civilisation. But for Jews worldwide, it must also be a source of renewed anxiety. Iran may well want to take its revenge and, as we saw in Buenos Aires, Jews around the world are considered to be legitimate targets. As ever, we now hold our breath.
*UPDATE: A number of conspiracy theories are beginning to circulate around the question of who actually killed him. Time magazine carries a piece about the speculation.