A senior member of Hamas was killed in a car bomb in Damascus on September 26, 2004, two days after it was reported that the organization’s Damascus offices were shut down.
‘Izz A-Din ‘Subhi A-Sheikh Khalil was killed in the explosion in the Zahira suburb south of Damascus.
The Hamas organization was quick to accuse Israel of the assassination. Though Israeli officials did not confirm their involvement in the attack, they also did not deny it.
Israeli security sources told AP on condition of anonymity that the bombing was Israel’s doing. As a rule, Israel does not comment on its overseas operations.
There are reasons to believe that Israel is indeed behind the attack, though its previous assassinations of Hamas operatives have been confined to the Palestinian territories, mostly to Gaza.
First of all, the killing comes just two days after it was reported in the highly acclaimed London-based daily Al-Hayyat that Israel received intelligence information from an unnamed Arab country regarding the Hamas leadership outside of the Palestinian Authority (P.A.).
According to the report, the information was obtained upon the request of Meir Dagan, head of Israel’s overseas intelligence agency, the Mossad.
The file included movements of Hamas leaders, their places of residence and personal habits such as their eating habits and where they do their laundry.
Also, Israel upped the ante against Hamas after a double bus bombing last month killed 16 Israeli civilians in the Israeli city Beer Sheva. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Hamas, an acronym in Arabic for Harakat Al-Mukawama Al-Islamiyya, (the Islamic Resistance Movement) has been one of the focal points of Israel’s attention since its inception in 1987, and even more so since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000. The group has assumed responsibility for numerous terror attacks, and taken the lives of hundreds of Israeli civilians.
Following the bombing in Beer Sheva, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon said they will strike Hamas everywhere. The Hamas leadership, including its political bureau chief Khalid Mash’al and senior member Mousa Abu Marzouq have since gone underground in hiding, fearing Israel’s striking arm.
There are also reasons to contest Israel’s alleged involvement in the attack. It is hard to believe Israel would exert time and effort to assassinate a member of Hamas who is not very senior, a move that may also aggravate Israel’s northern borders. Analysts say there are plenty of potential targets inside the P.A., without Israel having to resolve to targeted assassinations outside of these territories.
The Gaza-born Khalil, 42, was a prominent member of the organization, although he was not considered a particularly senior member of Hamas. He was in charge of the da’wa, or propaganda aspect of Hamas. If it indeed was an Israeli operation, analysts say his assassination is more of a deterrence measure than an act likely to shake the foundations of Hamas.
Khalil was one of 400 Palestinians from Hamas and Islamic Jihad deported by Israel to Marj A-Zuhour in South Lebanon in 1992.
Those deported included ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz A-Rantisi, the outspoken leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. A-Rantisi was assassinated by Israel earlier this year shortly after the assassination of Ahmad Yasin, the wheelchair-bound spiritual leader of Hamas.
Hamas leaders have since been trying to maintain a low profile for fear of being targeted.
Hamas has vowed to avenge the death of Sheikh Khalil, claiming it will launch attacks inside Israel.
Member of the political bureau of Hamas Muhammad Nazzal called the assassination a “cowardice act” and said it constitutes state terrorism and an attempt on behalf of Israel to “introduce its crisis outside of Palestine.”
Nazzal told Al-Jazeera television that Israel has failed to quash the “resistance” within the confines of the “occupied lands” and it will also fail outside these lands. He said this act will only make the resistance more persistent in continuing its course.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri told the pan-Arab channel Al-‘Arabiyya that this act constitutes a dangerous escalation of Israel’s operations since it is expanding its operations from the Palestinian territories to the entire Arab world.