Meir Dagan, a close ally to Sharon

JERUSALEM, April 23 (Islamonline.net and Agencies) - Israel's intelligence agency Mossad has turned its sights on “international terrorism” with a renewed focus on “overseas commando operations” under the leadership of its new head, reserve major general Meir Dagan, press reports said Tuesday, April 22.

Since Dagan took over the post at the end of October, Mossad has pushed the fight against the so-called "Islamic terrorism" to the top of its priority list at the expense of its information collection and analysis, reported the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot.

Under former Mossad head Ephraim Halevy, there was a special emphasis on collecting intelligence, analysis and research, and relatively little emphasis on operations and world “terrorism”, according to the paper.

Dagan, by contrast, has "placed terror at the top of the Mossad’s agenda, alongside activity to prevent Arab countries from becoming armed with non-conventional weaponry" and has virtually sidelined the diplomatic-strategic element, it added.

To this end, Dagan has strengthened the "Caesaria" unit, the branch allegedly responsible for special operations and assassinations, which had previously been left dormant by Halevy.

Although the paper made no direct mention of Mossad’s top-secret activities, it referred to two incidents, both of which occurred after Dagan's appointment, one of which was the mysterious death of Ramzi Nahra, a Lebanese citizen who was killed in a car bomb December 6^th.

Ramzi Nahra initially worked as an Israeli informer but later began supplying information to the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, information which led to the exposure of an Israeli intelligence cell working in Beirut.

The second incident occurred on March 1^st when an Egyptian fundamentalist was killed in a car bomb in the Ain El-Helweh refugee camp in south Lebanon.

Abdel Sattar al-Jad, also known as Faruq al-Masri, had lived in the camp for 10 years and was known for having fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet army.

Mossad accused him of belonging to a 200-strong group of supporters of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. 

Dagan, 55, is considered to be closely allied to the politics of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whom he served as a political adviser during the 2001 election campaign.

In 1970, Dagan ran a secret commando unit called Rimon, which, according to press reports, summarily executed Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip.