Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
A website called Stop910.com, which claims to be "an association of western intelligence organizations established to fight the threat of terror" and specifically gathers information about Hizballah, claims to have new information about one of Hizballah's founders Moustafa Amin Bader El-Din.The site is registered in Belgium and its servers are in Slovakia. The idea that it is run by western intelligence organizations seems far-fetched. It asks the public to (securely) submit information about Hizballah operatives. While it seems a little sketchy, the information it claims it found about Bader El-Din is making some waves in Israeli and Arab websites.
This description is mostly the same as can be found in Wikipedia, with a few more details, but the photos do seem to be new.
Moustafa Amin Bader El-Din, born in 1961, heads Hezbollah's security apparatus. Bader El-Din, who now lives in Haret Hreik, Beirut, was one of the founding fathers of Hezbollah, and has filled a series of military and security positions in the organization. He was appointed to his current position following the death of his brother-in-law, Imad Mughniya, in February 2008.
Bader El-Din is a dominant figure in Hezbollah. He is one of Secretary General Nasrallah's closest associates, has close connections with the leadership of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and is heavily involved in Hezbollah's decision-making process across the board, but especially when it comes to its terror policy at home and abroad. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) investigating the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri in 2005 named Bader El-Din as the senior defendant in the assassination, concluding that he had commanded the operational forces.
Bader El-Din is responsible for Hezbollah's ESO – Unit 910. The unit mounted the attack on the bus of tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, in July 2012, which claimed six lives. This attack followed a series of attempts the unit made under Bader El-Din's leadership to attack various targets all over the world over the past few years. Bader El-Din's career in Hezbollah began in the early 1980s, and he has since participated in many horrific attacks against various targets throughout the world. In 1983, for example, he played a part in the attacks on U.S. and French forces operating in Beirut, which claimed the lives of hundreds of victims.
Bader El-Din was also involved in establishing a terror cell that operated in Kuwait, for which he was arrested and sentenced to death. Following his arrest, Hezbollah's ESO began mounting attacks in Kuwait and abroad, in the hope of achieving his release. These included hijacks of Kuwaiti and Western airplanes, and abductions of Western citizens in Beirut. Bader El-Din escaped from prison during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and returned to Lebanon. He is considered to be lacking in interpersonal skills, and his acrimonious relationships with his subordinates and ties with his colleagues in the Hezbollah leadership are fraught with suspicion. The death of Mughniya in 2008 raised Bader El- Din's status in Hezbollah, and to some extent fueled the hostility that had developed between Bader El-Din and his colleagues in Hezbollah over the years.
Bader El-Din's behavior is highly secretive. He is guarded heavily around the clock, and goes to great lengths to avoid being photographed. Until now, the most up-to-date photograph published of Bader El-Din dates back to the 1990s.
Besides his position in Hezbollah, Bader El-Din also does a great deal of business in Lebanon and abroad, and is considered an affluent property owner.
