ISRAEL: WE'LL KILL THEM ALL Mar 24 2004 Israel vows to wipe out...

ISRAEL: WE'LL KILL THEM ALL Mar 24 2004


Israel vows to wipe out Hamas leaders

By Mark Dowdney


ISRAEL'S assassination squads were yesterday ordered to kill all of Hamas's leaders.

Premier Ariel Sharon and his ministers decided to step up executions after a five hour security meeting.

Israel is braced for a wave of terrorist attacks by Hamas after it assassinated the group's founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on Monday.

The Israeli government has decided not to wait for an Arab counter attack but hunt down the rest of terrorist group Hamas chiefs first.

Internal Security Minister Tsahi Hanegbi said: "Everyone is in our sights.

"Anyone who is involved in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank or anywhere else in leading a terror group knows from now on there is no immunity. And that means anyone to the last person."

Hanegbi would not reveal the hit list but said it included high profile Hamas members, "those who appear on television".

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Lebanon's Hezbollah terror boss Hassan Nasrallah could also be targeted. Khaled Mashaal, Hamas' political chief, was yesterday named Sheikh Yassin's successor. He will be Israel's most wanted.

Mossad agents tried and failed to kill him in 1997, injecting him with poison in a street in Jordan.

He now stays undercover and is believed to operate from Syria.

Moussa Abu Marzook is Mashaal's number two in the political bureau. But he also lives in Syria, making him hard to assassinate.

Abdel Aziz al Rantisi and Mahmoud Zahar will also be prize targets.

Rantisi was yesterday appointed Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip.

The men are co-founders of Hamas and spent long periods in Israeli jails but were set free when peace hopes were high.

Zahar has already survived previous Israeli assassination attempts. Rantisi yesterday vowed revenge strikes on Israel over Yassin's death.

He told thousands of mourners at Gaza's main soccer stadium: "We will fight them everywhere. We will hit them everywhere. We will chase them everywhere. We will teach them lessons in confrontation."

Ismail Hanieh will be a hunted man because he was Yassin's leading aide and belongs to Hamas' political bureau.

Also certain to be on the death list is the elusive Mohammed Deifand, head of Hamas's military wing.

Yassin died in an Israeli missile strike as he left a mosque near his Gaza home.

His death has made Arafat fear for his life. He told aides: "I could be next."

Asked if Arafat and Nasrallah were in the frame, Israeli army chief Lieut Gen Moshe Yaalon replied: "I think that their responses yesterday show that they understand that it is nearing them.

"In the long term, I hope that this will be a sign to all those who choose to hurt us, that this will be their end."

Khaled Mashaal

West Bank-born physics teacher, in his 40s, boss of Hamas bureau in Damascus. Accused of masterminding suicide bombings. In 1997, Israeli agents hit him with poison darts in Jordan. Survived after King Hussein made Israel send antidote.

Mahmoud Zahar

Hamas spokesman, 53, was Sheik Yassin's personal physician. Served as Hamas liaison with the PLO in mid-1990s. Now opposes compromise with Palestinian Authority. Imprisoned by Israel and jailed repeatedly by the Palestinian Authority.

Abdel Aziz al Rantisi

Paediatrician, 54, is new leader of Hamas in Gaza. Opposes truce with Israel. Spent seven years in Israeli jails, expelled to Lebanon for a year in 1992. Jailed by Palestinian Authority in late 1990s. Escaped Israeli assassination bid last June.

Ismail Hanieh

Top aide to Yassin expelled to Lebanon in 1992. Hamas go-between with Palestinian Authority. On decision-making political bureau, considered more

pragmatic, although

still advocates destruction of Israel.

Moussa Marzook

No2 in Damascus. In early 50s, US-educated, has PhD in industrial engineering, Lived in US for 15 years. Detained in 1995 by

US on suspicion of involvement in terror. Expelled to Jordan, then to Syria.