Report gives new details of Mugniyah assassination

An investigation conducted by Arab paper Al-Akhbar published Tuesday overnight reportedly revealed new details about the assassination of Hezbollah’s field commander Imad Mugniyah.

The report in Al-Akhbar, that claims the Mossad was "responsible for the operation from A to Z," details the last hours in the Hezbollah commander's life. According to the Arab paper, Mugniyah was on his way out of a meeting with senior Palestinian leaders in Damascus where they discussed "ways to develop the capacities of the Palestinian resistance inside Palestine, and Gaza in particular."

According to the report, Mugniyah's car, a 2006 silver Mitsubishi Pajero 4x4, was affixed with explosives to its trunk door that were detonated by a team of local operatives that used a nearby building under construction for surveillance on the targeted parking lot.

Al-Akhbar reported the operatives involved in the assassination were not Syrian citizens and traveled in and out of the country to implement the operation, that lasted six weeks.

The team had a getaway car that they had to abandon when problems arose during their escape, according to Al-Akhbar.

Mugniyah was a critical figure in the Hezbollah hierarchy, who was behind the Shi’ite terror organization’s most ambitious attacks over many years. He was assassinated on the night of February 12, 2010.

The paper adds that Mugniyah "like many operatives in the Resistance treated Syria as one of the safest places." Furthermore, the paper reports there was a presumption that Israel would not target Syria in direct operations.

According to the report, movement around Damascus was "more flexible and less complicated on the level of implemented security precautions."

"Ultimately, the 'implicit laxity' became an opening that allowed the Israeli enemy to assassinate Mughniyeh," the paper wrote.

Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.