Israel is waging a covert assassination campaign across the Middle East.

　　They are also suspected of recent killings in Dubai, Damascus and Beirut. While Israel’s Mossad spy agency has been suspected of staging assassinations across the world since the 1970s, it does not officially acknowledge or admit its activities.

　　The current spate of killings began in December when a “tourist bus” carrying Iranian officials exploded outside Damascus. The official report by Syria claimed that a tire had exploded but photographs surfaced showing the charred remains of the vehicle — prompting speculation that a much larger explosion had taken place.

　　Several weeks later, a meeting between members of Hamas, which controls Gaza, and their counterparts in Lebanon was also attacked, resulting in several deaths.

　　Most recently, the top Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed in Dubai on January 19, 2010.

　　Under the current Mossad chief, Meir Dagan, Israel is believed to have renewed efforts to kill high-level opponents. Only months after the former paratrooper assumed leadership of the intelligence service in October 2002, senior Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon began to be targeted. He was credited with ordering the killing of two relatively senior Hezbollah members who were killed in southern Beirut in July 2003 and August 2004.

　　More recently, Israel has been accused of planting a car bomb in Damascus that killed the top Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyah in February 2008. The Israeli Cabinet minister Daniel Herschkowitz last week praised the Mossad chief as “one of the agency’s most successful leaders”.

　　When asked about Mossad’s involvement in the Dubai slaying, Eli Yishai, the Interior Minister, smiled and said: “All the security services make, thank God, great efforts to safeguard the security of the state of Israel.”

　　Diplomats said they were aware that covert Israeli operations had increased. “We watch their comings and goings; we are aware that there is more activity both on our ground and other countries in the region,” said an Egyptian diplomat.

　　PHOTO CAPTION

　　People carry the coffin of Mahmud al-Mabhuh, one of the founders of Hamas movement's military wing, during his funeral procession at the Yarmuk refugee camp in Syria.

　　Source: Agencies