Imad Mughniyeh, the suspected mastermind of dramatic attacks on the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, has died in a car bombing in Syria.
Fancy him hanging out in Syria?
Hezbollah and Iran blame Israel.
Thanks Israel.
If they did it. I was kind of hoping a Marine pilot would put him in his crosshairs one day.
UPDATE: The Syrians are not happy to be shown harboring a known terrorist and also being unable to protect a terrorist they are harboring:
A Western diplomat based in Damascus said the incident was a double embarrassment for Syria — "on account of (Mughniyeh) being here and because they could not protect him." The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
"The Syrian security agencies have a lot of explaining to do as to how a hit like this could be carried out in a city that's remarkably secure," said Jon Alterman, head of the Middle East program at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Some in the security services were either caught unaware or are complicit in the killing," he said.
I suppose it is possible the Syrians were erasing evidence if Mughniyeh knew information about Lebanon or Iraq that Damascus wants buried now that Syria is looking for non-jihadi means of killing people inside Iraq. I guess I don't know nearly enough to really guess.
But I can say with certitude that this opinion is just idiotic:
But al-Qaida has not made a concerted effort to act in Syria, not because of the strength of its security services, but because of Damascus' anti-Western stance, according to Syria expert Joshua Landis.
"It's not just because the police are good. Syria's been given a pass by al-Qaida and others because of its anti-American position, but Americans and the West don't want to admit that because they don't want to admit that there's a cause and effect," said Landis, director of the Center for Peace Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He also maintains a widely read blog on Syria.
What kind of foolish thought is this? We don't want a cause and effect known? Of course we are willing to "admit" that Syria allies with jihadis against us and thus gains safety from jihadi attacks to focus on a common enemy! In what theoretical construct is that one of the deepest secrets of the United States government rather than the bleeding obvious and reason to target Damascus as an enemy of ours?
Any man should be embarassed to admit he works in something called "peace studies." It's barely more rigorous intellectually than basket weaving for Pete's sake.
And still no confirmation of who did the job.
