Head of The "Palestine Division" of Syria Shot Dead in Home
Syria Blames Mossad
Aug 19, 2018, 2:37PM
JOL Staff
Ahmed Issa Habib Twitter
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an NGO based in London with a large network of activists in the field, reported that Ahmed Issa Habib, was shot dead by unknown assailants at his home in the village of Baarin, Syria.
According to Israel Army Radio, Habib was the Syrian military intelligence commander in charge of the "Department of Palestine", which is responsible for many terrorist operations aimed at the Jewish state.
The killing comes exactly two weeks after the killing of one of Syria's leading chemical weapons scientist Aziz Azbar, who died when his car exploded in Masyaf on August 4th.
The Syrian press blamed Israel for the murder, accusing the Mossad to be behind the murder.
According to reports, Israel believed that Azbar was leading a classified weapons development program called ‘Sector 4’ at the Syrian Center for Scientific Studies and Research, and was busy rebuilding an underground weapons factory to replace the one that had been destroyed by Israel last year
Azbar and his team were working to begin producing precision guided missiles by retrofitting the Tishreen SM600 rockets. They were also working on a solid fuel plant for missiles and rockets, a safer alternative to liquid fuel, according to the report. The Tishreen is a Syrian version of the Iranian Fateh-110, a missile with a range of 200 kilometers (125 miles).
Azbar had been active for years in the chemical weapons production program of the Assad regime and participated in the coordination of Iranian and Hezbollah activities in Syria.
The official quoted in the report said that Israel had been tracking Azbar for years and wanted to assassinate him for his prominent role in Syria's weapons program even before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. He said it was the fourth time in three years that the Mossad murdered an enemy weapons engineer in a foreign country.
Israel generally does not comment on reports of its alleged military operations in Syria, but has repeatedly warned that it would act to keep advanced weapons out of the hands of Hezbollah terrorists, and has vowed to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in the country.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman sought to downplay the possibility that Israel was involved in the assassination of Azbar.
" Every day in the Middle East there are hundreds of explosions and acts of violence. They always try to blame us. So we will not take this too seriously, "he told Hadashot News.
