Syria, Hamas: Israel tried to assassinate a movement's cadre in Damascus
Syria-Israel, Politics, 12/14/2004

In separate statements both Syria and the Islamic resistance movement Hamas accused Israel of being responsible for the booby trapped car explosion which took place Monday evening in Mezze in Damascus.

One of the Hamas cadres survived the explosion which took place several minutes after he and his family left the car in Sheikh Saad quarters in Mezze quarters. The explosion's shrapnel hit several passersby. Sheikh Hassan Youssef, one of the Hamas leaders in the West Bank said that the targeted person is a Palestinian dentist called Abu Salha.

The Syrian minister of the Interior Ghazi Kanaan said the Israeli intelligence (Mossad ) is behind the operation. He said in a statement to the Syria satellite TV that the executing side of the operation "collaborates with the Mossad or it is the Mossad itself." He indicated that the explosion took place seconds after the targeted man and his wife and daughter left the car on their way to the doctor's clinic in the area of the explosion.

The spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, Mushir al-Masri said that the movement is confident that Israel is behind this operation the same it used to be behind scores of operations targeted Palestinian cadres abroad, the last of which was the assassination of the leading figure in Hamas Ezz Eddine al-Sheikh Khali in Damascus in September. Al-Masri stressed that an investigation has started to know about the implications.

However, Israel denied to have links to the attack. A high ranking Israeli official said that this accusation is groundless and not worthy to comment on.

This incident is the second of its kind to take place in the Syrian capital Damascus within less than three months. On September 26th Israel assassinated the leading figure in the Islamic resistance movement ( Hamas) Ezz Eddine al-Sheikh Khalil by an implanted bomb in his car in front of his house in al-Zahera quarters in Damascus.

Previous Stories:
  Kul al-Arab: Syrian prisoner in Israeli jail suffers health deterioration   (12/11/2004)
  UN secretary general extends the mission of UNDOF in the Golan for 6 months   (12/8/2004)
  Al-Rai: Israel does not want peace   (12/8/2004)

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