Hamas aide: Assassinated leader smuggled weapons

[Behind the Aegis]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- The right-hand man of a Hamas leader assassinated in Dubai confirmed Israeli claims that his boss supplied weapons to Palestinian militants, according to an interview transcript released Tuesday.

The aide, Damascus-based Mohammed Nassar, spoke to Hamas' Al Aqsa radio in Gaza.

Nassar's boss, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, was killed Jan. 19 in a Dubai hotel room. Israel has been widely suspected, but has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

Al-Mabhouh and Nassar fled Gaza in the late 1980s, after capturing and killing two Israeli soldiers. Speaking to the radio late Monday, Nassar described al-Mabhouh's action after one of the killings.

"Aboul Abed (Mabhouh) stood on the last body and raised his hands to the sky and said 'Praise God who honored me with capturing and killing him,'" Nassar said.

Israeli defense officials have alleged that al-Mabhouh played a role in smuggling weapons from Iran to Hamas-ruled Gaza. Nassar did not reveal specifics about al-Mabhouh's dealings, but said his boss "never stopped thinking about how to fight the occupation by supplying quality weapons to the Palestinian fighters."

"He participated with me in searching for weapons," Nassar said, according to the transcript.

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[proteus_lives]

1. He was a thug.

[cali]

2. and so were those who murdered him.

[proteus_lives]

3. Remains to be seen.

[cali]

4. no, really it doesn't.

they murdered him, dear. that makes them thugs and murderers. period.

[proteus_lives]

5. Yes, it really does.

They (whoever they are) killed a threat to Israel and didn't spend the spend their time trying to kill as many civilians as possible. Unlike the late unlamented Hamas honcho.

[azurnoir]

6. No it does not because Israel who has relations with Dubai

could have requested that al-Mabhouh be detained pending arrest saying that Israel has issued a warrant or even informed the Dubai government of their intentions. Israel has had no problem with kidnapping either rather than uni-laterally executing him on foreign soil, the fact that he was Hamas makes no difference here and that it was a political assassination which makes it also an act of terrorism

[Donald Ian Rankin]

7. "Thug" is not a rigourously-defined term.

Those who murdered him may, for all I know to the contrary, have been cultured, refined and polite. However, it is a simple matter of fact that they are murderers and criminals.

[Alamuti Lotus]

8. eh........ nm