Terrorist chief Mughniyeh was plotting big attacks

Al-Watan reports that American intelligence had learned that Mughniyeh arrived in Damascus three days earlier with instructions from, and in coordination with, the Iranians. His objective was to meet with Hizbullah leaders and coordinate a mass attack, for which he was to receive help from Syrian intelligence.

The American involvement in the killing is explained as being in retaliation for a recent car bomb attack that targeted a U.S. Embassy vehicle; three passersby.

Another Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Siasa, reports that Mughniyeh took part, shortly before he was killed, in a secret meeting in the Iranian School in Damascus. Also participating in the meeting were Syrian Intelligence Chief Gen. Aisaf Shwackath, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, and an Islamic Jihad representative. On the agenda: planned attacks in Arab countries that refuse to take part in the coming Arab League summit in Damascus.

The newspaper entertains the possibility that the meeting was merely a camouflage for Syrian involvement in Mughniyeh's killing.

The fact that Mughniyeh was killed in Damascus just a stone's throw from the Irainian embassy would seem to indicate that Syria was not involved in this assassination. It is already a huge embarrassment for the Syrian government and it is not likely they would cause themselves such trouble deliberately.

The prime suspect is still Israel's Mossaad whose expertise is unquestioned. But the fact that a car bomb was used to kill Mughniyeh may indicate other hands involved, including the Palestinians who have no great love for Hezb'allah and who have been hired out by the Syrians to detonate car bombs in Lebanon to kill anti-Syrian Lebanese in the past.

This time, they may have been operating for themselves - or still other unknown actors including a Hezb'allah faction who wanted to get rid of Mughniyeh for their own reasons.