Middle East: Israel appeared to be dramatically expanding its hunt for Hamas leaders yesterday when a car bomb blew up in the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing a leading militant in the radical Islamic organisation.
While Israel did not officially take responsibility for the blast, security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the involvement of the Jewish state in the bombing.
Izz Eldine Subhi Sheikh Khalil, whom Israeli commentators described as the head of Hamas military operations in Damascus, was killed when a bomb planted in his white Mitsubishi Jeep exploded as he reversed out of his home in the al-Zahraa neighbourhood.
A neighbour who witnessed the explosion said that Khalil "got into the car and then the phone rang. When he took the call we heard the explosion. We rushed towards his car and found him in pieces in the back seat."
Israeli officials have accused Mr Khalil (42) of involvement in the orchestration of attacks inside Israel and the smuggling of weapons into the Occupied Territories.
Leaders of Hamas, which has carried out most of the suicide attacks inside Israel since the start of the intifada uprising four years ago, vowed revenge, initially threatening to target Israelis and Jews abroad. But a Hamas official quickly denied that any directive of this kind had been issued. "This is a cowardly crime carried out by the Zionist Mossad," he said, referring to Israel's counter-espionage apparatus.
Israel deported Mr Khalil from the Occupied Territories in 1992 as part of a mass expulsion of Hamas activists to Lebanon by then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. In the Sajaiyeh neighbourhood in Gaza City people flocked to the Khalil family home yesterday to pay their condolences.
In one of the few public remarks by an Israeli official, Public Security Minister Mr Gideon Ezra said he didn't "have information, and I can't confirm or deny" Israel's involvement, but he added that he was "not sorry this happened".
After 16 people were killed in a double suicide bombing in the southern city of Beer Sheva on August 31st, Israeli leaders pointed the finger of blame at Syria and at the Hamas command operating in its capital.
At the time, Israel's military chief warned that Israel would "deal with parties that support terror in the Palestinian Authority, Hezbullah, in Lebanon, in the terror command in Damascus, which operates with Syrian consent."
The assassination comes just days after the London-based Al Hayat newspaper reported that Israel had recently received valuable information on the Hamas infrastructure in foreign countries from the intelligence service of an Arab state. The information included where Hamas leaders live, their pastimes and what they eat.
An adviser to the Syrian information minister, Mr Ahmad Haj Ali, called the attack a "terrorist and cowardly action What happened indicates that Israel's aggression has no limits."
The apparent decision by Israel to extend its policy of targeted assassinations to Syria comes against the backdrop of growing US pressure on Damascus to end its support for terror groups.
Responding to the pressure, Syria told top Hamas leaders earlier this month that they had to leave.
Syria has denied it forced out the organisation's leaders.
Some Israeli commentators suggested yesterday that the attack was as much a message to Syria as it was to Hamas - to refrain from allowing groups like Hamas to operate on its soil. But observers also said that the strike could encourage Hamas to step up its attacks against Israel, and maybe also against Jewish or Israeli targets abroad.
The strike, in the heart of an Arab capital hostile to Israel, is likely to further unnerve Hamas leaders, many of whom - mainly in Gaza and the West Bank until now - have been keeping a low profile due to Israel's efforts to track them down.
Earlier this year, Israel killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the group's spiritual leader, and his successor, Dr Abdel Aziz Rantisi, in missile strikes in Gaza.
Israel has a decades-old policy of hunting down Palestinian militants abroad.