Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence organization, has captured a high ranking Iranian terrorist inside Iran itself, Reuters reports. The terrorist was allegedly planning an attack on Israeli business in the nearby island of Cyprus.
The suspect, Yousef Shahabazi Abbasalilu, confessed to being handled and supplied by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the hardened core of Iran’s military. Iran has a history of close ties to terrorist organizations waging proxy wars against Israel and its allies. Its close relationship to Hizbollah and Hamas has led to rocket attacks on Israel.
Mossad did not say when the capture took place, where the suspect is now nor when the Cyprus attack would have happened. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said an attack had been foiled but did not give details. Cyprus at that time declined to comment.
Israel and Iran have long engaged in a covert war between operatives, spies, and terrorists. In 2012, motorcycle assassins killed Iranian nuclear scientists using magnet bombs. Mossad has been known to use spies abroad to protect its interests, including against escaped Nazi war criminals.
Israel’s ability to circumvent Iranian security services and conduct serious operations inside Iran is unparalleled. The Iranian nuclear program, which Israel says is for the production of a nuclear bomb, is the central contentious issue between the two nations. Israel was not a party to the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA), which the US has withdrawn from under President Trump. Netanyahu has said that Israel reserves the right to strike Iran should it acquire such a weapon.
“We will not accept Iran’s intentions to develop a nuclear arsenal,” Netanyahu said, adding that any nuclear deal between the United States and Tehran would not bind Israel. “We will maintain our right and our obligation to defend ourselves, with our own forces, against any threat whatsoever, throughout the Middle East.”
Trump’s 2020 targeted strike on Qasem Suleimani , the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard covert troops, disrupted Iranian operations for a time. Iran has however continued to plan for retaliatory killings, such as its planned assassination of John Bolton.
