A senior member of the Hamas terrorist organization said that the head of the group's political bureau, Khaled Mashaal, who lives and operates in Damascus, recently managed to evade attempts to assassinate him.
According to the source, Ahmed Yusuf of Hamas, the attempts on Mashaal's life were made after the security apparatuses of Arab countries gave Israel and the United States information about his movements.
Terrorists Terrorized?
Yusuf, an advisor to Hamas's Gaza kingpin Ismail Haniyeh, told Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper that Hamas's leaders in Gaza no longer communicate by phone, for fear of being located and assassinated. A Hamas newspaper reported that Ismail Haniyeh was recently warned by the head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman, and other sources, that Israel has decided to kill him.
According to another report, in a Gazan newspaper called "Al Risala," Haniyeh is currently underground and has ceased giving sermons in the mosque near his residence in the Shati neighborhood.
Authoritative Kuwaiti newspaper A-Rai reported meanwhile that though Hizbullah blames Israel for the assassination of senior terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, it is not in a hurry to attack Israel. Instead, the newspapers states, Hizbullah is planning to target a senior Israeli military or intelligence officer. The paper also reported that Mughniyeh had prepared a target list of Israelis following the Israeli government's threat, after the Second Lebanon War, to attack Hizbullah leader terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah.