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World Jewish News
'Hezbollah planned Egypt attacks to avenge Mughniyeh'
13.04.2009
A Hezbollah agent arrested in Egypt last week told investigators his cell was planning attacks on Israeli targets to avenge the killing of terrorist mastermind Imad Mughniyeh, the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported Monday.
Sami Shehab, the Hezbollah operative, said his cell surveilled tourist sites in Taba, Dahab and Sharm el-Sheikh and tracked Israeli ships passing through the Suez Canal, according to the newspaper.
Shehab was one of 49 alleged Hezbollah agents arrested by Egypt last week on suspicion of planning attacks aimed at destabilizing the country.
Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's second-in-command, was assassinated in a February 2008 car bombing in Damascus. Hezbollah blames Israel for the killing, and has threatened to carry out attacks to avenge it. Israel denies involvement in the assassination.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, meanwhile, has rejected Egyptian the accusations but confirmed over the weekend that it had dispatched an operative to Egypt - a rare acknowledgment that the Lebanese militant group was operating in another Arab country.
Nasrallah said Shehab was arrested Nov. 19 along with other Egyptian and Palestinian citizens on charges of smuggling arms and equipment to Gaza through the Egyptian border.
Late Sunday, Egypt's attorney general added espionage to the charges against 49 alleged Hezbollah agents.
Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud told Egypt's state run news agency MENA that the alleged agents, including Lebanese, Palestinian, Egyptian and Sudanese nationals, have been spying for a foreign group intending to carry out terrorist attacks in Egypt.
Members of the Hezbollah cell were said to have bought ingredients to make explosive devices at a Cairo market, which they smuggled into the Gaza Strip and Israel along with terrorists, according to reports in Arab press.
Shehab, a Lebanese national, was apparently Hezbollah's main operative in Egypt. According to reports, he smuggled arms into Gaza and often presented himself as a Palestinian residing in Syria.
He fought against Israel Defense Forces soldiers in southern Lebanon, according to the Al Hayat daily, and took on intelligence and logistical assignments after being wounded in fighting.
In his first comments on the affair, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told Lebanon's prime minister in a phone call on Sunday that Egypt "will not allow anyone to violate its borders or destabilize the country."
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Источник: Haaretz
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