BEIT MERI, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanon’s inside minister alleged Wednesday that the mysterious abduction and killing of a Hezbollah-linked Lebanese foreign money exchanger in a villa on the sting of a quiet mountain resort city earlier this month was probably the work of Israeli operatives.
The killing of Mohammad Srour, 57, who was sanctioned by the U.S., was like one thing out of a global spy thriller. Pistols outfitted with silencers and gloves had been present in a bucket of water and chemical substances on the scene, apparently supposed to take away fingerprints and different proof, Inside Minister Bassam Mawlawi mentioned in an interview with The Related Press. Thousand of {dollars} in money had been left scattered round Srour’s physique, as if to dispel any hypothesis that theft was the motive.
“Lebanese safety companies have suspicion or accusations that Mossad was behind this operation,” Mawlawi mentioned, referring to the Israeli spy company. “The best way the crime was carried out led to this suspicion.”
He offered no particular proof for his allegations. Mawlawi mentioned the investigation continues to be ongoing and as soon as it is over the outcomes will likely be made public and referred to judicial authorities.
The Israeli prime minister’s workplace, which oversees Mossad, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The suspicion by Lebanon’s safety companies that the crime may very well be the work of Israeli brokers comes at a time when Lebanon’s southern border area has been rocked by ongoing clashes between militants of the Hamas-allied Hezbollah group and Israeli troops.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Srour in 2019 over his alleged cash transfers from Iran by way of Hezbollah to the Palestinian militant group Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
“Mohammad Srour’s exercise in cash alternate is understood, as are the transfers of cash from which facet to which facet,” Mawlawi mentioned.
Srour’s killing earlier this month, got here as U.S. and Israeli officers have been making an attempt to crack down on transfers of funds to Hamas. The push has intensified following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led assault on southern Israel that triggered the devastating struggle in Gaza and its ripple results across the area.
Final month, a senior U.S. Treasury official visiting Beirut pressed Lebanese authorities to forestall funds from being funneled to Hamas by way of the tiny nation. Jesse Baker, deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for Asia and the Center East within the Workplace of Terrorist Financing and Monetary Crimes, met with prime Lebanese political and monetary officers.
Israel’s army mentioned it has killed numerous cash exchangers in Gaza for allegedly funding Hamas.
Srour’s killing was clearly deliberate prematurely. Three Lebanese judicial officers aware of the investigation advised the AP {that a} man posing as a buyer had contacted Srour from overseas and requested him to ship a money switch to a girl within the mountain resort of Beit Meri.
The officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of the investigation is ongoing, mentioned Srour first went along with his nephew and left after handing the lady the cash. He was contacted by the identical particular person with one other request a day after his first go to, the officers mentioned. This time he went alone, after which his household misplaced contact with him.
Mawlawi mentioned the mobile the lady used to contact Srour was solely activated to contact him.
He mentioned the perpetrators had first tried to hire an condominium in Beirut’s southeastern suburb of Hazmieh, a element that has not been beforehand reported, however later cancelled, apparently as a result of “they didn’t discover (the condominium) appropriate to hold out the operation.”
Mawlawi mentioned the killers then shifted to the quiet city of Beit Meri, well-known for its posh properties with red-brick roofs, sprawling forest and Roman-era archaeological web site, the place they rented a three-story villa on the sting of the city utilizing pretend Lebanese identification playing cards. The nation’s Basic Safety Directorate is wanting into the identities of people that entered and left the nation across the interval of the killing, he mentioned.
Srour went lacking on April 3 in Beit Meri, and his physique was discovered every week later within the villa. Mawlawi mentioned investigators discovered “a lot of bullet” wounds in numerous elements of his physique, together with his legs and arms. He was reportedly handcuffed.
The villa is positioned on a quiet facet road lush with timber.
“We didn’t hear something,” mentioned Christian Francis who lives throughout the road from the villa the place Srour was killed. He added that most individuals have canines within the extremely secured space the place municipal police have a checkpoint close by and the Lebanese military has a put up few hundred meters (yards) away.
Beit Meri’s mayor, Roy Abou Chedid, advised the AP that the condominium was rented in late February to an unknown particular person for one 12 months for $48,000. He added that the household that owns the villa didn’t register the rental contract on the municipality however had paid its municipal taxes on time in November.
“The operation was carried out in a approach that’s greater than skilled,” Abou Chedid mentioned, including that the neighbors didn’t suspect something and it took safety companies a while to find which home Srour’s physique was in.
A Hezbollah spokesperson declined to touch upon the killing citing the continued investigation. The spokesperson refused to say whether or not Srour was a Hezbollah member however mentioned that he labored prior to now for the al-Qard al-Hasan Association, the monetary arm of the Iran-backed group.
Israel has a long history of targeted killings in Lebanon, together with drone strikes which have killed high-ranking Hezbollah commanders over the previous six months. No less than 260 Hezbollah members have been killed by Israel in that interval.
The U.S. has accused Srour of transferring tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} yearly from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to Hamas’ army wing, the Qassam Brigades, alleging that beginning in 2014, Srour “was recognized as in command of all cash transfers” from the IRGC to the Qassam Brigades.
Srour’s relations haven’t given media interviews since his physique was discovered however mentioned in a televised assertion that each one his monetary transactions had been clear and he merely labored in foreign money alternate. They urged safety companies to swiftly discover the perpetrators.
Throughout Srour’s funeral in his hometown of Labweh in northeast Lebanon, a Hezbollah flag was flown over his coffin and scores of women and men chanted “dying to America and dying to Israel” as they marched towards the cemetery.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Related Press author Josef Federman contributed to this report from Jerusalem.