Kuwait Times

Published Date: February 14, 2008
By Ahmad Al-Khaled, Staff writer

KUWAIT: A car bomb in the Syrian capital of Damascus Tuesday night killed Imad Fayez Mugniyah, a highly placed member of Hezbollah who is suspected of having a role in the Kuwait Airways hijackings of the 1980s which left two Kuwaitis dead at the hands of their hijackers and was wanted in connection with bombings and hijackings worldwide. Hezbollah, which hails Mugniyah as a martyr, has blamed Israel for Mugniyah's assassination. Neither Hezbollah nor Israel has made an official comment on his death, both
sides are intently awaiting the other's next move.

Mugniyah's role in Hezbollah was referred to in Arab newspapers as the seventh member of Hezbollah's Al-Shura Council and his leadership in the organization was common knowledge.

US and European intelligence agencies name him as the international head of Hezbollah while he is alternately given the title of head of security. While Hezbollah does not openly acknowledge Mugniyah as being a Hezbollah leader, the entire Hezbollah stronghold of South Beirut has been in mourning since his murder.

Kuwait connection

As the events of the 1980s fade from Kuwait's collective memory - more than half the population is under the age of 25 - it is important to remind ourselves of the violent incidents of the 1980s which have a Mugniyah connection.

In 1983 a Shiite group, Al-Dawa (the call), the same group which is now part of the ruling establishment of the new Iraq, was implicated in the bombing of the US Embassy in Kuwait, the French Embassy in Kuwait, the Kuwait Airport control tower, an oil refinery, and a residential area where six people were killed and 80 injured.

Al-Dawa 17 were convicted for the attacks in Kuwait. One of the 17 sentenced to death was Imad Mugniyah's brother-in-law and cousin, Mustafa Yousef Badreddin.
US intelligence agencies suspect that Hezbollah may have played a role in the attacks due to the relationship of the two men and due to the fact that after the convictions, Mugniyah was reportedly involved in several organized hijackings wherein the release of Al-Dawa 17 was a condition.

The US lists Hezbollah and Mugniyah in the terrorist category. The EU does not list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization but does include Mugniyah in the terrorist category.

KAC plane hijacked

A year after the 1983 attacks, Kuwait Airways flight 221 was hijacked wherein the hijackers demanded the release of Al-Dawa 17. Two US passengers were killed and Iranian police freed the hijackers in Iran where the plane had been diverted. Imad Mugniyah and Hezbollah were accused by US authorities in the hijacking and killings. Kuwait remained silent regarding the possible identity of the hijackers.

In 1988, militants hijacked a second plane, Kuwait Airways Flight 422, with 110 passengers for 16 days. At one point during the hijacking, the plane was diverted to Iran where multiple survivors reportedly believed the original hijackers deplaned and were replaced by a fresh crew of hijackers who were armed with increased gun power.

During the ordeal, the hijackers met with reporters who quoted one as saying upon requesting the refueling of the plane in order to enable the plane to leave Algeria, "We will liquidate our account with Kuwait elsewhere. We don't want to have the massacre in a friendly country." A hijacker was quoted as saying, "Kuwait has to know that we do not fear death." The hijackers demands included the release of Al-Dawa 17.

The plane was diverted to Cyprus where two young Kuwaitis aged 20 and 25 were tortured and then shot. Their dead bodies were dumped on the tarmac of the Cyprus airport.

Throughout the crisis, the Kuwaiti government remained steadfastly adamant that Al-Dawa 17 would not be released. The hijackers' spokesman on the planes radio said, "We repeat our demand for the liberation of our 17 brothers.
At one point during the long ordeal, hijackers said over the radio regarding demands to again refuel the plane, "otherwise we will kill a person related to the unjust Kuwaiti regime.

In a threat to negotiators, which after the US 9/11 experience is frighteningly ominous, the flight 422 hijackers threatened to force the pilot to crash into the Kuwaiti royal palace if their demands were not met. This time the hijackers went free in Algiers and KUNA reported they were flown via a deal worked out with the Algerian government to either Tehran or Beirut.

Survivors of the Kuwait hijacking identified one of the hijackers as Hassan Izz Al-Din, who had already been indicted for hijacking TWA flight 847 in 1985 in which hijackers had also demanded the release of Al-Dawa 17.

When their calls went unanswered back in 1985, the TWA hijackers killed a US navy diver on board the plane and threw his tortured body on the tarmac eerily similar to the manner in which the two young Kuwaitis bodies were discarded three years later.

Mugniyah's role

Imad Mugniyah was indicted (in absentia) for the TWA hijacking and murder and has been implicated by US and EU intelligence agencies as having planned or participated in a total of three hijackings including the TWA and Kuwait Airways hijackings, kidnapping more than 20 Westerners in Lebanon, and the murder and torture of several hostages as well as hijacking victims.

In each case, the release of Al-Dawa 17 was one of the demands made by the perpetrators. Mugniyah was wanted in countries around the globe from Argentina to the US. He was on the US FBI's most wanted list and a $5 million reward was offered for information on his whereabouts.

The convicted and imprisoned Al-Dawa 17, which had been known to have fought against Saddam Hussein during his long reign in Iraq, was mistakenly released by Iraqi soldiers from their Kuwaiti prison during the Iraqi invasion.

The released Al-Dawa 17 remain at large and no one has been convicted for killing the two US passengers aboard the Kuwait Airways hijacked plane nor has anyone been convicted for killing the two Kuwaiti passengers on the second hijacked Kuwaiti plane.

After the hijacking of Kuwait flight 422 ended, Kuwaiti Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Rashed Al-Rashed described the murder of the two Kuwaiti youths as having been "assassinated by the hand of treachery and terrorism.