12 February 2008(2008-02-12) (aged 45) Kafr Sousa, Damascus, Syria
Political party
Hezbollah
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8, including Jihad
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Assassin, revolutionarist, jihadist
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Imad Fayez Mughniyeh (Arabic: عماد فايز مغنية; 7 December 1962 – 12 February 2008),[1] alias al-Hajj Radwan (الحاج رضوان), was a Lebanese militant leader who was the founding member of Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization and number two in Hezbollah's leadership. Information about Mughniyeh is limited, but he is believed to have been Hezbollah's chief of staff and understood to have overseen Hezbollah's military, intelligence, and security apparatuses. He was one of the main founders of Hezbollah in the 1980s. He has been described as "a brilliant military tactician and very elusive". He was often referred to as an ‘untraceable ghost’.[2]
U.S. and Israeli officials have long accused Mughniyeh of being directly and personally involved in terrorist attacks which has resulted in many suicide bombings, murders, kidnappings, and assassinations. It began with the Beirut barracks bombing and U.S. embassy bombings, both of which took place in 1983 and killed over 350, as well as the kidnapping of dozens of foreigners in Lebanon in the 1980s. He was indicted in Argentina for his alleged role in the 1992 Israeli embassy attack in Buenos Aires. The highest-profile attacks for which it is claimed he is responsible took place in the early 1980s, shortly after the founding of Hezbollah, when Mughniyeh was in his early twenties. U.S. intelligence officials have accused him of killing more United States citizens than any other man prior to the September 11 attacks, and the bombings and kidnappings he is alleged to have organized are credited with all but eliminating and completely removing the US military presence in Lebanon in the 1980s.[3]
Mughniyeh was known by his nom de guerre Al-Hajj Radwan. Mughniyeh was included in the European Union's list of wanted terrorists[4][5][6] and had a US$5 million bounty on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.[7] To many in his home country, Lebanon and the Middle East, he’s seen to be a national symbol and hero.[8]
As part of a joint CIA–Mossad operation,[9][10] Mughniyeh was killed on the night of 12 February 2008 by a car bomb that was detonated as he passed by on foot,[11] in the Kafr Sousa neighbourhood of Damascus, Syria.[12][13][14]
^"Anti-Terrorism Designation; Anti-Terrorism Designation Removal". m.treasury.gov. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018.
^"Who Was Imad Mughniyeh?". www.washingtoninstitute.org. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
^"The Arab American News – Mughnieh murder could trigger retaliation". arabamericannews.com. 10 January 2009. Archived from the original on 6 March 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
^European Union, Council Common Position 2001/931/CFSP of 27 December 2001 on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism Freezing funds: list of terrorists and terrorist groups Archived 28 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 August 2006
^Council Common Position 2005/427/CFSP of 6 June 2005 Official Journal L 144, 08/06/2005 P. 0054 – 0058 Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 August 2006
^COUNCIL COMMON POSITION 2005/847/CFSP of 29 November 2005 Official Journal of the European Union Archived 15 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 August 2006
^"Reputed terrorist long sought by CIA killed in explosion". CNN. Beirut. 14 February 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
^Fromm, Charles. "Killing Imad Mughniyeh made him a legend". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
^Goldman, Adam; Nakashima, Ellen (30 January 2015). "CIA and Mossad killed senior Hezbollah figure in car bombing". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
^"Why the CIA Killed Imad Mughniyeh". POLITICO Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
^Cite error: The named reference WP013015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Hezbollah's most wanted commander killed in Syria bomb". Reuters. 13 February 2008. Archived from the original on 18 February 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
^Powell, Robyn; Chivers, Tom (13 February 2008). "Israel denies assassinating Hezbollah chief". Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008.
^[1] Archived 22 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine, "Will Hezbullah avenge the hit on its terror chief?" by Yaakov Katz, 11 February 2011
Imad Fayez Mughniyeh (Arabic: عماد فايز مغنية; 7 December 1962 – 12 February 2008), alias al-Hajj Radwan (الحاج رضوان), was a Lebanese militant leader...
member of the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, and the son of ImadMughniyeh. He was killed in 2015 in the Mazraat Amal incident, an airstrike attributed...
on May 19, 2023. The series explores the real-life manhunt for ImadMughniyeh. Mughniyeh was implicated in Hezbollah attacks during the 1980s and 1990s...
Islamic Jihad Organization – similar organization in Lebanon led by ImadMughniyeh, which orchestrated the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing and is thought...
commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, and ImadMughniyeh, chief of military operations for Hezbollah, oversaw the smuggling of...
Soleimani, IRGC commander Ahmad Kazemi, and Lebanese Hezbollah chief ImadMughniyeh—responsible for directing the construction of a large overground and...
afterwards, with their leader ImadMughniyeh appointed head of that party's overseas security apparatus. In 2008 Mughniyeh was killed by a car bomb in Damascus...
Second Intifada, when he and Hezbollah chief of military operations ImadMughniyeh oversaw the smuggling of weapons to the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic...
Beirut, a four-part spy drama that revisits the true-life manhunt for ImadMughniyeh, which streamed on Showtime starting 19 May and made its on-air debut...
Issa, "Jawad" Jihad Mughniyah (son of former top Hezbollah commander ImadMughniyeh), "Sayyed Abbas" Abbas Ibrahim Hijazi, "Kazem" Mohammed Ali Hassan Abu...
in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, three of the alleged hijackers, ImadMughniyeh, Ali Atwa, and Hassan Izz-Al-Din, having been indicted earlier in United...
Early members of the council included influential figures such as ImadMughniyeh, who served as head of the council until he died in February 2008, and...
the same second name as that of the assassinated Hezbollah leader, ImadMughniyeh. Matar had obtained an advance pass to attend the event. Matar in an...
the CIA. American courts have found Hezbollah's chief of operations ImadMughniyeh and Quds Force General Ali-Reza Asgari responsible for directing the...
Argentina 30 (including 1 suicide bomber) Islamic Jihad Organization, ImadMughniyeh 1993 World Trade Center bombing 1993 North World Trade Center tower...
days before the kidnapping occurred. The note contained a message from ImadMughniyeh to a Hezbollah team that had been training for a kidnapping operation...
strike took place in the same area where Hezbollah's senior commander, ImadMughniyeh, was assassinated in 2008. On 18 February, targets in Damascus were...
welcoming speech to Kuntar. On 17 July 2008, Kuntar visited the tomb of ImadMughniyeh. Later that day, a homecoming function was organized in Kuntar's native...
terrorist group in July 2008 after Hezbollah confirmed its association with ImadMughniyeh. In 2012, British "Foreign Minister William Hague urged the European...
Adler To Write/Direct Limited Series On Hunt For Hezbollah Co-Founder ImadMughniyeh By Mossad & CIA". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on...
idea of digging these tunnels: The first is the martyred commander ImadMughniyeh, and the second is Hajj Qasem Soleimani who went to Gaza more than once...
Shia, Imad Mughniyah and Mustafa Badr Al Din: ImadMughniyeh and Mustafa Badr Al Din took charge of the Syrian–Iranian backed operation. Mughniyeh had been...
Photo Name Alleged terrorist activity Date of activity Status ImadMughniyeh TWA Flight 847 June 14, 1985 Killed Killed on February 12, 2008, by a car...
interview with the Times of Israel, he claimed that future Hezbollah leader ImadMughniyeh, then a young member of the organization, was his "chief tormenter,"...
Hezbollah commander ImadMughniyeh, who was assassinated in 2008. Mohamad Haidar (born 1989), Lebanese footballer ImadMughniyeh "Tayr Debba". Localiban...
fundamentalist leader. At that time, Hezbollah's chief of operations ImadMughniyeh, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the al-Qaeda...
accused the Syrian government of assassinating a top Hezbollah fugitive, ImadMughniyeh, "for Israel's sake." Khaddam was tried in absentia by a military court...