Arabic media reports claimed Saturday that Israel's Mossad spy agency was behind last Sunday's car bombing in Sidon, southern Lebanon, that wounded Hamas operative Mohammed Hamdan.
According to Lebanese media reports, one man was killed and another injured in the attack, in addition to Hamdan, but their identities remain unknown.
The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported that Lebanese army intelligence and Internal Security Forces officials identified the head of the cell that carried out the assassination attempt as a Mossad agent.
According to the reports, the agent is Ahmad Baytiyah, a 38-year-old native of Tripoli, Lebanon, living in Amsterdam. Baytiyah was reportedly recruited several years ago by the Mossad and has traveled frequently since then between the Netherlands and Lebanon.
The target of the operation was apparently Osama Hamdan, Hamdan's 53-year-old brother. Osama Hamdan, a Gaza native, has represented Hamas in Lebanon since 1988.
According to the reports, Baytiyah traveled a number of times from the village where he was staying near Beirut to Sidon and monitored Hamdan's home.
In addition, the reports claimed that the assassination attempt was planned for Jan. 11, but in the end it was postponed to Jan. 14 for unknown reasons.
Hamas responded to the assassination attempt in a statement last week, saying that "the Zionist enemy is the only one benefiting from attacking the stability of Lebanon."
Israel has categorically denied any involvement in the incident.
