Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert revealed that the Israeli naval commando unit “Shayetet 13” assassinated Syrian General Muhammad Suleiman , a prominent advisor to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the coastal city of Tartus in 2008.
Hot Topics
Suleiman held a very sensitive position within the Assad regime, as sources described him as a security and military advisor close to the Syrian president, responsible for strategic weapons files and military procurements, and he also played a role in managing relations with Hezbollah and transferring Iranian weapons through Syria to Lebanon.
According to the account revealed by Olmert in his memoirs, Israeli fighters emerged from the sea and approached Suleiman's house at night, while the latter was sitting with his guests on the balcony.
According to Olmert's account, the fighters positioned themselves about 150 meters from both sides of the balcony and were able to identify Suleiman with certainty despite the presence of other people on the beach.
He said that the order was given to fire, so three bullets were fired, hitting Suleiman in the back of his head, before the perpetrators immediately withdrew towards the sea and returned to the boat that was waiting for them.
This account aligns in key aspects with what The Intercept published in 2015, based on classified documents from the US National Security Agency leaked by Edward Snowden. One of the documents explicitly attributed the operation to the Israeli naval commando unit Shayetet 13, and considered it the first known instance of Israel targeting a high-ranking government official.
Suleiman's name had emerged before his assassination in connection with highly sensitive files for Israel. He was one of the few figures close to Assad who knew the details of the Syrian nuclear program, and his name was linked to overseeing the Deir ez-Zor nuclear facility that Israel destroyed in an airstrike in 2007.
The New Yorker reported that Israeli officials considered Suleiman one of the few people in the Syrian regime who knew about the nuclear facility, and an Israeli official described him as running what was called the regime’s “shadow army,” including files on transferring Iranian weapons to Hezbollah.
Leaked US documents also revealed that Suleiman was a special advisor to Assad on strategic weapons issues, sensitive military operations, and the Lebanese file, including contacts with Hezbollah.
In the aftermath of the assassination, the Syrian government did not officially claim responsibility for the operation, and Syrian media outlets subjected the issue to strict restrictions. The identity of the victim was not clear in the initial reports.
According to a leaked US diplomatic cable later published by WikiLeaks, Syrian security services considered Israel the “most likely suspect” in the operation, particularly because of Tartus’s coastal location, which allowed a force arriving from the sea to approach the target and then easily withdraw. The cable also indicated that the use of a sniper suggested the perpetrator knew Suleiman’s identity and could have identified him from a distance.
However, at the time, theories emerged suggesting an internal purge within the Syrian regime, amidst conflicts between prominent security and military figures. The Guardian newspaper reported in 2008, citing sources, that Suleiman may have been a victim of internal power struggles, particularly stemming from tensions between Bashar al-Assad and the then-head of military intelligence, Assef Shawkat.
However, the leak of US National Security Agency documents in 2015 greatly strengthened the narrative that attributes the operation to Israel, after it was stated that its perpetrators were Israeli naval commandos.
The assassination of Suleiman came less than a year after Israel destroyed the Syrian nuclear facility in Deir ez-Zor in 2007, an operation that Israel also did not officially acknowledge at the time. According to the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Suleiman was involved in managing the Syrian nuclear program, and therefore his assassination was considered a potential blow to Damascus's ability to rebuild the program.
Tags:
asiawest
