Israeli spy agency Mossad suspected in Dubai assassination of Hamas commander

Israel sought Mabhouh, a native of the Gaza Strip and co-founder of Hamas' military wing, for the 1989 capture of two Israeli soldiers. Police say he was killed within hours of arriving in Dubai, without a security detail, from his home in Damascus, Syria.

The total suspect list now stands at 18. Dubai authorities identified two Palestinians suspected of being part of the assassination team and had them arrested and delivered from Jordan. Palestinian sources in the West Bank identified the two men Thursday as Ahmad Hasanein and Anwar Shekhaibar, both members of the security forces of the U.S.-backed Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip.

Interpol issued 11 "red notices" to its 188 member states for the arrest of the slaying suspects and also urged law enforcement authorities to try to clear the names of seven Israelis whose identities were allegedly stolen for the attack. "Interpol does not believe that we know the true identities of these wanted persons," Ronald K. Noble, secretary general of Interpol, said in a statement.

The suspects traveled on fraudulent British, Irish, German and French passports. But at least seven of the suspects' names match those of dual Israeli citizens, who allege that their identities were used to create phony travel papers with others’ photographs.

Israel shrugged off the calls, saying the Dubai police chief had provided no incriminating proof.

The Mossad answers directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also in office in 1997 when Israeli agents traveled to Jordan using fake Canadian passports and injected Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, then a rising star in the group, with a deadly toxin.

That operation backfired spectacularly after the agents were caught and Jordan forced Israel to deliver an antidote that saved Meshaal.


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