http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_3072.html
Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520
This information is current as of today, Wed Feb 13 2008 13:15:40 GMT-0800 (PST).
LEBANON
October 17, 2007
ON THE INTERNET:
blog:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=28930_Mughniyeh_Dead_Syria_Blames_Israel#comments
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blog:
http://pajamasmedia.com/2008/02/mughniyeh_assassination_anothe.php
“MUGHNIYEH ASSASSINATION: ANOTHER SETBACK FOR IRAN’S INTELLIGENCE AGENCY”
February 13, 2008 7:58 AM
SNIPPET: “The assassination of Hezbollah kingpin Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus is a major blow to his boss, the Iranian intelligence network. PJMs Meir Javedanfar notes that this is their latest of many recent setbacks.”
by Meir Javedanfar
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, Irans top man in Syria and Lebanon, should set off alarm bells in Tehran. His assassination, according to Iranian media sources, took place in the Kafarsoose neighborhood of Damascus, close to an Iranian school and the headquarters of the Syrian Mukhabarat (intelligence agency). At first glance, the elimination of such a highly valuable Iranian asset, under the very noses of the Syrians, could be taken as a sign that Western intelligence agencies have managed to infiltrate the once seemingly impenetrable walls of Irans intelligence operations abroad.”
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http://www.asharqalawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=11766
“Imad Mughniyeh: Hezbollah’s Phantom Killed”
13/02/2008
By Ali Nourizadeh
London, Asharq Al-Awsat-
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “According to an Iranian source, who met Mughniyeh on more than one occasion in Iran, the elusive figure had undergone plastic surgery to change his facial features in 1990. He then returned to Beirut incognito, under a new name and a false identity, with an Iranian diplomatic passport. Using several forged Lebanese, Syrian, Iranian and Pakistani passports, Mughniyeh successfully planned and executed a number of terrorist operations in Argentina in the mid 1990s, including the bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 85.
During his constant traveling, Mughniyeh met Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri in Sudan, where al Qaedas leader had established training centers in farms, while the revolutionary guards were also active in the country, under the guise of Jihad for construction organization, which was responsible for building roads and installations. When Mughniyehs cover was blown, he returned to Iran where he underwent a second operation and completely changed his look.
Between 1997 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Mughniyeh traveled between Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan and northern Iraq, and assisted al Qaeda leaders to cross from Afghanistan to Iran. He then played a role in moving fighters loyal to bin Laden from Afghanistan to Iraq, through Iranian territory, by exploiting his relationships with the revolutionary guards, al Zawahiri, Saad bin Laden and Mohammed al Islambouli, whose brother assassinated the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
In 2005, he was tasked with organizing relations between the different Shiaa armed factions in southern Iraq. Mughniyeh then became the field supervisor of the revolutionary guards intelligence bureau in the region. That same year, he traveled to Lebanon through Syria, accompanied by Iranian officials, under the name of Sayyid Mehdi Hashemi, an Iranian national with a diplomatic passport.
In early 2006, reports indicated Mughniyeh had been seen in the city of Basra, where he is alleged to have been facilitating the entry of Mehdi army fighters into Iran, to take part in military training. In April, Mughniyeh was said to have returned to Lebanon where he held senior positions in Hezbollah’s intelligence services and, according to Israeli sources, planned the operation to kidnap Israeli soldiers, based on orders from Irans revolutionary guards.
That same month, the Sunday Times newspaper reported that Mughniyeh took part in meeting between the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Syrian counterpart, according to security experts.”
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http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/02/08/iran_qods_force_infiltrates_iraq/4246/
February 13, 2008
“Iran Qods Force infiltrates Iraq”
By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)Published: February 08, 2008
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “New information was brought to light Thursday revealing “an overwhelming amount of intelligence indicating a political-military buildup by Tehran’s mullahs, targeting not just the south, but the heart of Iraq.”
This information, collected by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or the MeK), was made public by Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Strategic Policy Consulting, Inc., an outfit based in Washington, D.C. with close ties to the MeK.
According to Jafarzadeh this latest move by Tehran “can only be interpreted as indicating an aggressive buildup, by an aggressive regime with an aggressive agenda.”
Iran’s plan, according to Jafarzadeh, is to expand its terrorist network in Iraq through the deployment of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ elite units the Qods Force.”
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http://tabnak.ir/pages/?cid=6464