The last time a major Hezbollah leader was taken out was when Israelis assassinated Abbas Mussavi, Hezbollah’s first leader, in March of 1992. Iran's response was to mobilize Hezbollah operatives to carry out a suicide bombing on July 18, 1994 that leveled the seven-story building of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), Buenos Aires’ Jewish community center. 85 men, women, and children were killed and more than 300 wounded in the greatest single assault on a Jewish target since World War II. The attack was approved by Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khameini, then as now, Iran's Supreme Leader, and Ali Akhbar Rafsanjani, president of Iran and widely regarded as a "moderate." The professional in charge of carrying out the attack on the AMIA was none other than Imad Mughniyeh.
Whoever killed Mughniyeh took out a "big fish," one of the biggest. It is widely assumed that the Israelis were behind the assassination. It is consistent with their fighting Hamas and other enemies of Israel by targeting the known leaders. Caroline Glick, the Harvard trained deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, for which she writes a weekly column. She has written an essay dealing with the question of "Who wanted Mughniyeh, "Mughniyeh's true legacy" (Jerusalem Post, February 17, 2007).
Mohammad Bazzi, a Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations who is writing a book on Hezbollah, was interviewed on the assassination on February 14, 2008, "Who Killed Imad Mugniyah?" He offers an alternative perspective. It is also worth noting.
Finally, a Pakistani Islamist web site, "Pakistan Land of the Pure" describing the memorial ceremony for Mughniyeh in Beirut is worthy of note. The principal speech was delivered by Hassan Nasrallah, the current leader of Hezbollah, spoke at the memorial gathering in Beirut. Nasrallah and the other who spoke take it for granted that Israel was behind the assassination and promise a terrible revenge, not necessarily on Israel and Israeli assets, but on Jewish targets throughout the world. Usually, mainstream opponents of Israel claim that they oppose Zionism not Jews and Judaism outside of Israel. We know from the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires that Hezbollah is not making an empty threat.
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2 comments:
This is an interesting comment from an interesting group.
The speculation that this was a retaliatory gesture for the Buenos Aires attack in the 80's by the Israeli government does not seem to serve much purpose. It only galvanizes radicals' cause. Since Imad Mughniyeh was such an old war horse, and even a liability, perhaps Hizbullah set the assassination up, knowing they would blame Israel anyway. The group needs pretext to allow for a big action. Perhaps we may see a terrorist strike soon, or perhaps I am watching too much of the "24" TV show.
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