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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Did Egypt flip a Hamas terrorist?

Back in 2007, there was outrage that Egypt had released a Hamas terrorist wanted by both the PA and Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported then (no longer online, recovered here):
The Egyptian authorities have released a top Hamas operative wanted by the Palestinian Authority and Israel for his involvement in terror attacks over the past few years, PA officials told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

The officials expressed outrage over the release of Nahro Massoud - one of the commanders of Hamas's armed wing, Izzadin Kassam - who fled to Egypt more than a year ago. At the request of the PA, Massoud and several other Hamas fugitives were arrested by the Egyptian security forces and held without trial.
At this time, Nahro Massoud is under arrest in Syria for suspicion of helping finger Mahmoud Mabhouh for assassination.

A key security operative of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas was under arrest in Syria tonight on suspicion of having helped an alleged Israeli hit squad identify Mahmoud al-Mabhouh before he was assassinated in Dubai, the Guardian has learned.

Palestinian sources in the Gulf confirmed Nahro Massoud, a Hamas security official, was in detention and under interrogation in Damascus in connection with the 19 January killing, which is now widely assumed to have been mounted by Israel's Mossad secret intelligence service.

Massoud's name first surfaced in the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Siyasah which quoted "a well-informed source" in Dubai as saying he had been with Mabhouh until he was killed, raising questions about his involvement.

"Hamas suspects that he [Massoud] passed on the information that led to ­Mabhouh's killing," a senior ­Palestinian source told Israel's Ma'ariv newspaper.
So did Egypt - or Israel - work on getting Massoud to be a collaborator, and then release him to help with plots like this one?

The story gets better every day.