.
Admission of a Hezbollah operative asked to collect information about sites
frequented by Israeli tourists and their transportation made public by
Cyprus.
Issued on: 21/02/2013 Type: Article
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/20482
The Golden Arches hotel in Limassol, one of the sites about which the
Hezbollah operative gathered information (Picture from the Golden Arches
website)
The Golden Arches hotel in Limassol, one of the sites about which the
Hezbollah operative gathered information (Picture from the Golden Arches
website)
Overview
1. On February 20, 2013, Cyprus made public the written admission of Hossam
Taleb Yaacoub, read into the court record at his trial in Limassol. Hossam
Taleb Yaacoub, 24, a Lebanese man with Swedish citizenship detained in
Cyprus on July 7, 2012, collected information about tourist sites frequented
by Israelis with the objective of carrying out a terrorist attack against
them. He was tried on eight counts, among them conspiracy to commit a crime,
participation in a criminal organization, intent to commit a crime and
obstruction of justice (Cyprus Mail, February 21, 2013).
2. The following information was also made public (New York Times ,[1]
Cyprus Mail, February 21, 2013):
1) Activity for Hezbollah - Hossam Taleb Yaacoub has been a member of
Hezbollah since 2007. He used the code name "Wael" and was handled by an
operative named "Ayman," who wore a mask to the meetings he held with
Yaacoub. Yaacoub admitted to having been trained in the use of weapons. He
also admitted to delivering packages for Hezbollah in Attalya (Turkey),
Lyon and Amsterdam. He was asked to pick up a couple of bags in Lyon, and to
take a cell phone, two SIM cards, and a "mysterious package" to Lebanon.
2) Activity in Cyprus - Yaacoub went to Cyprus for the first time in 2008,
and again in December 2011. He claimed that both visits were
business-related. On June 26, 2012, he went to Sweden to renew his passport
and from there flew via Britain to Cyprus. His Hezbollah handler asked him
to conduct surveillance of a number of tourist sites frequented by Israelis.
They included a parking lot behind a hospital and the Golden Arches Hotel in
Limassol. He was also asked to collect information about various hotels in
Ayia Napa (on the southeastern coast of Cyprus) and the price of renting a
warehouse. In addition, he was asked to locate Kosher restaurants but was
unable to find any.
3) Collecting information in July 2012 - According to the Cypriote
authorities, Yaacoub went to the Limassol airport at the beginning of July
2012 and wrote down the license plate number of buses used to carry Israeli
tourists. He admitted that all his travel expenses were paid by Hezbollah.
3. Yaacoub's initial admissions indicate that like Bulgaria, locations in
Cyprus frequented by Israelis were preferred targets for Hezbollah terrorist
attack. The information released in Cyprus, like the information made public
by the Bulgarian authorities, revealed the extent and scope of Hezbollah's
terrorist activity in European Union countries as well as Hezbollah's
determination to continue even after its failures (the terrorist attack in
Burgas, Bulgaria, was carried out two weeks after an attack in Cyprus was
prevented). Nevertheless, the European Union still hesitates to designate
Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and impose sanctions on it.
Appendix
Preventing the Terrorist Attack in Cyprus, 2012
1. On July 7, 2012, the Cypriote authorities in Limassol detained a
24-year-old Lebanese man. According to Cypriote police sources, he was there
to collect information about Israeli tourists flying to Cyprus. He was
carrying both Lebanese and Swedish passports,[2] as well as documents and
pictures indicating that he had been following Israeli tourists around the
island (Agence France-Presse and AP, July 14, 2012). The information was
collected in preparation for carrying out a terrorist attack against Israeli
tourists vacationing in Cyprus .
2. The terrorist attack planned for Cyprus was part of the terrorist
campaign Iran is waging against Israel. After the detention of the Hezbollah
operative in Limassol, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said that
Iran was behind the affair. He said that as Iran had sent its operatives to
assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador on American soil and carry out
terrorist attacks in Azerbaijan, Bangkok, Tbilisi, New Delhi and Kenya, it
had done the same in Cyprus. He called on the international community to
oppose Iran, the largest exporter of terrorism in the world (Website of the
Israeli Prime Minister, July 14, 2012).
3. Two weeks after Yaacoub was detained in Cyprus, the attack on the Israeli
tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, was carried out. A comparison of the
information revealed by his admission and the information revealed by the
authorities in Bulgaria about the attack in Burgas shows that the attack in
Limassol was planned the same way: information was gathered about buses used
to transport Israelis and SIM cards were purchased, probably for use in
detonating IEDs.[3]
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