Dubai: Hamas Operative Drugged, Suffocated

(CBS/AP)  Dubai police said Sunday forensic tests show a Hamas operative who was killed in his hotel room by an alleged Israeli hit squad was drugged with a fast-acting muscle relaxant and then suffocated with a pillow.

The drug, called succinylcholine, is frequently used by doctors to administer a breathing tube or anesthesia. Dubai police said tests discovered the drug in the bloodstream of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the Hamas commander whose body was found in his room at a luxury Dubai hotel on Jan. 20.

Dubai authorities have accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of being behind the killing.

On Sunday, Dubai deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina told the Gulf News daily that succinylcholine can "cause immediate and temporary paralysis." He added that the forensic report confirms al-Mabhouh died of suffocation "using a pillow."

Dubai police also said a third Palestinian suspect was in custody. The Gulf city-state's authorities have linked at least 26 other suspects to the alleged hit squad that traveled to Dubai on fake European and Australian passports to stalk and kill al-Mabhouh.

At least seven of the suspected killers share names with Israeli citizens, further fueling suspicions the Mossad was behind the hit.

Israel, however, has maintained a policy of ambiguity on the killing, neither confirming or denying involvement.

Israeli analysts say the hit strengthens Israel's deterrence because terrorists can never feel safe, CBS News correspondent Robert Berger reports from Jerusalem.

But, says former Israeli diplomat Avi Pazner, "Nobody can accuse Israel because we don't know if the Mossad did it or didn't do it."

On Sunday, the country's trade minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, told Army Radio that while he had no idea who killed al-Mabhouh, the slaying shows Hamas that "none of their people are untouchable, they can all be reached."

The comments from Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister, were the most direct yet on the killing by an Israeli official.

He said the results were "immediately translated," claiming that the leader of the Islamic militant group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, recently disguised himself in a wig on a trip to Syria.

"He understands that eyes are watching him and that is what is important," Ben-Eliezer said.

The minister's claim could not immediately be verified with Hezbollah, but Nasrallah has largely lived in hiding since his group battled Israel to a stalemate during a monthlong war in 2006.

In one of Israel's few comments on the matter, opposition leader Tzipi Livni last week praised al-Mabhouh's death as "good news to those fighting terrorism."

Israel says al-Mabhouh was a major player in smuggling weapons to the Hamas militants that control the Gaza Strip. He was also wanted by Israel for the 1989 abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers on leave.

[romev]

And now the retaliation is surely being planned.

The use of force has never stopped terrorism. It never stopped the terror between the British and the Irish, and it hasn't worked for the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The best way to disempower terrorism is to empower the terrorists politically and economically. Bringing the IRA into the political process put an end to 400 years of bloodshed between England and Ireland. Surely 50 years of conflict can be ended when Isreal makes a serious effort to get along with its neighbors and deal humanely and justly with the displaced native inhabitants.

[askagain]

Turning the other cheek doesn't work. Negotiations requires two sides serious about resolving issues. The Palestinians show no sincere desire for peace. Their idea of peace means driving the Israelis into the sea. If the Palestinians were sincere, they would accept the fact that much of what they demand won't happen.

[sdemaggie]

Why is this news? Who cares.

[hillbillyvol]

My thoughts! The Inglorious Basterds have come to life! Long may they live.

[Leaderless]

This ***** is lucky that he didn't died of horrible death......the kind that he inflicted on civilized society.
Good riddance.

[curse914]

by Mortar_29 February 28, 2010 4:54 PM EST
What does this have to do with religion? Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, had one of its leaders killed by Israeli agents.

Which would be the same if we found out where Osama Bin Laden was and did the exact same thing to him.

No difference!

============

This is just drop of blood spilled in this religious war and is not my war. The "chosen" people are making claim on "their land" in a contract written in blood. And the Cannites and Amalekites are making claim on to the very same land. Apparently, "God" did not get his way when he commanded the extermination of these peoples in the Old Testament.

Your analogy is atrocious, sorry Mort, but Bin Laden attacked infidels on 9/11. I think that qualifies as a religious war. Just because one side believes their motives to be entirely secular, it does not negate the impetus behind the crafting of the war to begin with.

My statement stands, religion is poison. There is a vast historic record to excerpt, if you want me to prove my statement.

[P0ST1ING_AWAY]

by titletrack February 28, 2010 2:24 PM EST
Job well done.
==================================
No doubt that retaliation is on the way.

[babooph]

Anti Israeli & anti Islamics have been killing each other around the world for some time now...

[pete_in_az]

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

[curse914]

Indeed, religion and dogma is poison.

[Mortar_29]

What does this have to do with religion? Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, had one of its leaders killed by Israeli agents.

Which would be the same if we found out where Osama Bin Laden was and did the exact same thing to him.

No difference!

[sioux4life1]

Only one word comes to mind..Brzezinski. :-D

[berlinfoto-2009]

I am no expert but this does not sound like work of an Israeli hit squad to me. I does sound very familiar to me though, without naming where, I might have heard about such a thing before.