Mahmoud al-Mabhouh Assassination January 2010
The assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas leader, occurred on January 19, 2010, in his hotel room at the Al Bustan Rotana in Dubai. Mabhouh, known for founding Hamas's military wing, was found suffocated shortly after arriving in the city. His death prompted significant investigation, particularly by Dubai police, who alleged that 26 suspects, tracked via surveillance, were involved, using forged passports from various countries, including Britain and Ireland. The Dubai police chief suggested a strong likelihood of involvement by Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, although Israel has historically neither confirmed nor denied such operations.
In the aftermath, the use of foreign passports led to diplomatic tensions, prompting discussions between officials from the implicated countries and Israel. While Mabhouh had survived previous assassination attempts, the circumstances surrounding this incident drew comparisons to a spy thriller, with bizarre behaviors of the alleged assassins caught on video further complicating the narrative. Amidst the backdrop of ongoing tensions between Hamas and Fatah, the implications of Mabhouh's killing extended beyond the immediate event, reflecting broader conflicts within Palestinian politics and regional security dynamics.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh Assassination January 2010
Summary: The murder of a senior leader of Hamas, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in his Dubai hotel room on January 19, 2010, set off a round of diplomatic inquiries over allegations by Dubai police that the killers had been tracked on videotape and had used apparently-forged passports from Britain, Ireland, France, Australia, and Germany. The Dubai police chief said a month after the killing that he was "99 percent sure" that Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, was responsible for Mabhouh's killing. On the other hand, two former security officers for Fatah, the chief rival of Hamas for influence among Palestinians, were also arrested, and two of the alleged assassins were said to have left Dubai for Iran shortly after Mabhouh's killing, turning the assassination into a non-fiction version of a spy thriller. Israel, following its usual practice, refused to comment on the assassination or the possible perpetrators.
Date: January 19, 2010.
Place: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Incident: Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior leader of Hamas who lived in Damascus, Syria, was found dead in his room at Dubai's Al Bustan Rotana hotel, near the airport. He had been suffocated within a few hours of his arrival in Dubai.
Mabhouh was the reputed founder of the military wing of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2006. He had been accused by Israel for the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers in the 1980s.
More recently Mabhouh was accused of organizing imports of arms from Iran.
Mahbouh had survived previous assassination attempts, the most recent just three months before his death.
Known or presumed perpetrators: In the weeks after the assassination, Dubai police said they had identified a total of 26 suspects in the case. The suspects, whom police said had been tracked on video surveillance cameras, were carrying passports from Britain (12), Ireland (6), France (4), Australia (3), and Germany (1). In at least 13 cases, the passports used by the suspects named by Dubai police bore the names of citizens of those countries living in Israel, although all the passports were apparent forgeries.
In addition to the suspects named by Dubai police, who left the emirate before Mabhouh's body was discovered in his hotel room, police arrested two Palestinians, identified as Anwar Shheibar and Ahmad Hassanain, described by the Associated Press as "former Fatah security officers and current employees of a senior Fatah official." Their possible role in the assassination was not immediately explained by officials in Dubai.
A month after the killing, Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan al-Tamim was quoted in published reports as saying he was "99 percent, if not 100 percent" sure that Israel's vaunted intelligence agency, Mossad, was responsible for the murder.
Diplomatic officials in Ireland, Britain, France, and Australia met with Israeli representatives and expressed concern over the use of their national passports by suspects in the case. However, none of the officials accused Israel of responsibility. Israeli Foreign Minister Abigdor Lieberman said in an interview broadcast by Israeli Army Radio "I don't know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports. Israel never responds, never confirms and never denies."
According to accounts of the murder by Dubai officials, the assassination proceeded in an almost clownish fashion. The alleged killers were caught on videotapes ducking into restrooms in hotels and emerging moments later wearing false beards or wigs but still easily recognizable. According to some analysts, such antics were so far removed from Mossad's reputed expertise in carrying out such operations as to cast serious doubt on the agency's role in Mahmoud's killing. Instead, some analysts suggested, the killing was meant to cast blame on Israel while distracting attention from the actual perpetrators. Hamas and the other main Palestinian political party, Fatah, have long been at odds over which one speaks for the Palestinian people, with Hamas holding effective power in Gaza and Fatah holding sway over the West Bank.
A further complication came when Dubai police revealed that two of the alleged assassins had left the emirate on a ship bound for Iran--a seemingly unlikely destination for Israeli intelligence agents leaving the scene of an assassination.