Alhanan Tenenbaum, the Israeli colonel taken captive by Hizbollah early October is “practically a deputy of the Israeli Mossad chief,” whose task was “to terminate the Hizbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and all his family members,” according to the London-based Ashark Al Awsat newspaper in its Tuesday issue.
Citing “informed Lebanese sources,” the Arabic daily said that interrogations with the prisoner are underway, and it is likely that “more important and critical information will be revealed.”
The sources told the paper that Tenenbaum was the mastermind of the spy ring that carried out espionage operations against Hizbollah in 1998.
An agent, under the alias “David Bental,” was caught in the basement of an apartment house near the Swiss capital of Berne trying to tap the phone of a naturalized Lebanese-born car dealer suspected of having links to the Hizbollah movement.
A Swiss court, which agreed not to disclose the identity of the agent for security considerations, sentenced Bental to one year in prison with suspension.
The targeted Hizbollah man in Switzerland was able later to contact Tenenbaum, who introduced himself as a European personality interested in brokering the release of Lebanese prisoners from Israeli jails.
The colonel asked for detailed maps of the general secretariat offices in Lebanon and that of the party’s Shura Council so that he would go and meet the group’s top officials, according to the sources.
They added that the Hizbollah member informed the movement’s command of the developments. The decision was to send a security official to handle the issue. The latter began to provide the colonel with correct information about Hizbollah in return for money. Among the information were detailed maps of the residences of Nasrallah in Beirut, Beqaa and south Lebanon, they told the paper.
According to the same sources, when the Mossad processed the tips they received, it was clear that they were correct. A plan was immediately drawn up by the Israeli security government.
The sources went on to say that the intelligence agency prepared models of the sites on the maps and trained agents on storming them, but the capturing of Tenenbaum came as a shock to the Mossad, and “European security leaders” who allegedly took part in the planning, and discussed with their Israeli counterparts how to cover up for the operation after it is successfully implemented.
The sources said that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had been “very enthusiastic about the operation.”
They added that the “Tenenbaum came to Lebanon to supervise the operation” -- Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
