On 12 February 2008 a car bomb exploded in Damascus, Syria. The victim was a person whose name spelt terror during the 1980s and 1990s - Imed Mugniyeh. While the name is not heard of as often as Osama bin Laden's in the realm of terrorism, Mugniyeh is widely regarded as bin Laden's mentor (another figure influenced by Mugniyeh was Yasser Arafat), which is a good reason for the world to take notice of these latest developments in the Middle East.

Mugniyeh was extremely meticulous in covering his tracks to avoid detection. It is said that he never slept in the same house twice, and never took the same route. He was distrustful of his dozen bodyguards, and even underwent facial surgery to protect himself from a long list of enemies that he expanded during his bloody reign. In addition, Mugniyeh enjoyed state patronage, unlike his peers or successors. Mugniyeh received his tutelage from the Iranian state under the stewardship of the Iranian revolutionary guards. His support from the Iranian government was evident when he moved his family from Lebanon to Tehran in the aftermath of the civil war in that country of the early 1990s.

Mugniyeh's success enabled him to rapidly rise in the ranks of the Shia militant group, Hezbollah. He was the operational commander of this group and is widely credited with being actively involved in the planning and logistics during the recent war between Hezbollah and Israel. Additionally, he was notorious for a string of bloody attacks worldwide, particularly on Jewish and American targets.

In 1983, he orchestrated the US embassy bombing in Beirut, which killed 63 people and wiped out the CIA's top Middle East staff. That year, the Israeli command centre in Tyre was blown up, killing scores of troops. Mugniyeh is also blamed for the 1988 torture and murder of Col. William R Higgins, the most senior American intelligence officer in Lebanon. In the 1990s, he was blamed for the attack on the Israeli embassy and Jewish centre in Argentina. He was also the mastermind behind the attack on the Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996. He was recently held responsible for planning the kidnapping of Israeli border reservists, who continue to remain in captivity. Mugniyeh carried a bounty of US$25 million from the FBI, and continually topped the list of most wanted terrorists by Israel.

Interestingly, bin Laden, who heads an organisation which widely views Shia followers as not being true followers of Islam, enjoyed a good relationship with Mugniyeh. According to Debkafile, a widely read Israeli intelligence news website, a 5 August 2006 report states that Mugniyeh was the only undercover agent in the Middle East who enjoyed the complete trust of both Ayatollah Khomeni and bin Laden.

The timing of the attack has some significance. It occurred near the third anniversary of the death of Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, who coincidentally died in a car bomb in Beirut. Syria was widely blamed for the attack and faced worldwide condemnation for the continued presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon. This attack could probably be meant to convey a subtle message to Damascus that it too is not immune from retaliatory strikes.

The only intelligence organisation capable of executing such an attack in the region is widely believed to be the Israeli foreign intelligence agency, Mossad. Mugniyeh was on the Mossad's hit list for a long time. In an earlier assassination attempt, Mugniyeh had a narrow escape when a car bomb, intended for him, killed his brother instead. The Mossad agent, Ahmad Hallak, was tracked by Lebanese military intelligence and Islamic Jihad, and executed. While Mossad has denied any role in the attack, Mugniyeh's killing would mark the first known instance of a successful elimination since the September 2004 assassination of a senior commander of the Hamas; that operation was also conducted in Damascus.

Hezbollah as an organisation would be considerably weakened by the death of Mugniyeh. Particularly, when noting that Haj Hussein Khalil, the Hezbollah's deputy for political affairs was killed in the same explosion. Mugniyeh's importance in the organisation is apparent from the fact that Tehran had bestowed the supreme commander status upon him after the Lebanon war.

There are also murmurs of this being an inside job and that Mugniyeh may have been betrayed by his Syrian handlers. The speculation is that the Hezbollah chief Nasrallah felt sidelined by Mugniyeh and had him eliminated. However, what matters in the end is that a ruthless terrorist has finally met his end. As stated by Israeli Environment Minister, Gideon Ezra, formerly a senior intelligence officer, "I, of course, do not know who carried out the assassination of Imad, but he should be blessed."