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Analysis: A Bomb in Damascus

Council on Foreign Relations

February 14, 2008
Author: Lee Hudson Teslik

The November 2007 Annapolis summit, which aimed to breathe life into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, put Syria back on the diplomatic map. After initial questions over whether Damascus would be invited, analysts applauded Syria’s attendance and suggested a push for Israeli-Syrian reconciliation might be a first step toward a broader peace. Now, a few months down the road, that idea seems sidelined. Several incidents this week—including the assassination of Hezbollah’s fugitive terrorist mastermind, a dangerous stalemate in Lebanese politics, and new U.S. sanctions against Syria—could have lasting ramifications for the region.

First, a February 12 car bombing (NYT) in Damascus took the life of Imad Mugniyah, widely considered the brains behind several Hezbollah terrorist acts in the 1980s and 1990s. At one point, before Osama bin Laden gained widespread notoriety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) listed Mugniyah as the most wanted terrorist in the world. The United States had a $25 million bounty on his head, equal to that for bin Laden. Israeli officials deny involvement in the assassination (Haaretz), but a video report from al-Jazeera notes speculation to the contrary and Haaretz writes that Israeli embassies have gone on high security alert in the days since. Another Israeli paper, Yedioth Ahronoth, quotes former senior CIA official Bruce Reidel saying Israel’s Mossad intelligence service almost certainly ran the operation.

Beyond possible reprisals, the implications of Mugniyah’s killing remain myriad. On February 13, a day after the bombing, President George W. Bush announced an expansion of U.S. sanctions against Syria, freezing U.S. assets of Syrian officials deemed to have benefited from “public corruption.” He accused Damascus of working against stability in Iraq, and said Syria “continues to undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty and democracy, imprison democracy activists, curtail human rights, and sponsor and harbor terrorists.”

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.