4 Arabs, Mossad linked to attempt on Meshaal

[bemildred]

BEIRUT: Four Arabs have been detained in Syria over a plot by Israel's Mossad spy agency to assassinate Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based politburo chief of Hamas, a Hamas official said Tuesday.

"We have been recently informed that four Arab members of an Arab security service from a country neighboring Syria, and who are collaborating with the Mossad, have been detained in Syria over the plot," said Ali Barakeh, head of Hamas' political relations affairs in Lebanon. "They include a woman."

Barakeh said he did not wish to name the third country, but said "they belong to the same country that has presented information to Israel about Hamas officials. It is very regretful that an Arab country is helping Israel instead of backing the Palestinians," he said.

A Hamas militant was killed Sept. 26 when his car blew up in Damascus in what Syria and the hard-line Palestinian movement said was an assassination by Mossad.

Daily Star