Mossad behind assassination of Syrian rocket scientist – report

The Mossad is responsible for carrying out the assassination of Aziz Esbar, one of Syria’s most important rocket scientists, the New York Times reported. 

By: World Israel News Staff

The Mossad carried out the assassination of Aziz Esber [also spelled Asbar], considered one of Syria’s most important rocket scientists, according to a report published Tuesday in the New York Times.

Esber was killed by a car bomb planted by a Mossad agent, according to “a senior official from a Middle Eastern intelligence agency quoted by the New York Times‘ David Halbfinger and Ronen Bergman.

It was reportedly the fourth assassination mission carried out by Israel against an enemy weapons engineer on foreign soil in the past three years, according to the senior official quoted by the Times.

Esbar reportedly led a secret unit called Sector 4 at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center.

According to the Times, Esber “was said to have free access to the presidential palace in Damascus and had been collaborating with Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force, and other Iranians to begin production of precision-guided missiles in Syria by retrofitting heavy Syrian SM600 Tishreen rockets.”

The rockets were said to be accurate enough to hit Israeli cities from Lebanon or Syria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said on numerous occasions that Israel would not permit Syria to deploy these missiles and would take military action if necessary to stop such activity.