Hizballah affiliate leader captured: but not where press say?
Ahmed al-Mughassi, leader of the Hizballah al-Hejaz (an affiliate of the Lebanese Hizbollah), was captured yesterday and is now in Saudi custody: his is said to have been the mastermind of the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers truck-bombing that killed 19 US airmen. There are two conflicting versions as to where he was arrested: the New York Times (and most of the international press) cites US military sources as saying that he was captured in Beirut, whereas Debka is claiming an exclusive story saying that in fact his private plane was forced down onto Saudi soil shortly after leaving Iranian airspace in the Gulf. Perhaps he fell prey to the new US-Iranian deal?
A senior United States official in Washington who was briefed on the matter said on Wednesday that it was “likely” that Mr. Mughassil was in Saudi custody after apparently being seized in Lebanon. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential intelligence and law enforcement reports, indicated that the American authorities were still waiting for additional details from Saudi officials, but expressed confidence that the mastermind of the Khobar attacks was no longer at large.

Mr. Mughassil’s arrest, nearly two decades after the bombing, was a vivid reminder of the longstanding animosity between Washington and Tehran at a time when the Obama administration is seeking congressional approval of an agreement to lift international economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.

Saudi Arabia is Iran’s chief regional rival. Saudi leaders worry that the nuclear deal could strengthen Iran and its conventional military. That could embolden it to step up support for its militant allies around the region, much like the group accused of carrying out the Khobar bombing.

Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, a spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry, said in a text message on Wednesday that he had “no information” about the arrest of Mr. Mughassil but was looking into it.

Some analysts and American officials had suggested that Al Qaeda, a Sunni group, played a role in the Khobar bombing. But in 2006 the United States District Court in the District of Columbia concluded that Iran was responsible. The court found that Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, had worked through a proxy — Hezbollah al-Hijaz, a Saudi militant group that is affiliated with the Lebanese Hezbollah. The court said Mr. Mughassil was the ringleader in the attack.