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Iranian Guards general assassinated in Damascus - French sources

DEBKAfile Special Report May 30, 2010, 8:37 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags: IRGC's Al Qods Murder in Damascus

Exclusive Al Mezzeh district, Damascus

The death of Khalil Sultan, a high-ranking general of the IRGC's al Qods external terror branch, at his home in the exclusive Damascus district of Al Mezzeh Sunday, May 16 is now revealed by French intelligence and Syrian exile sources in Paris to have been assassination by an unknown hand.

The authorities in Damascus said at the time that the general, whom they described as a rich Syrian businessman, sales agent for the Iranian Kordo automobile manufacturers, was killed in the course of a robbery.
In fact, according to DEBKAfile's intelligence sources, Sultan ran Iranian Revolutionary Guards' covert operations in Damascus and Beirut under deep cover. The gang which burst into his luxury villa and gunned him down with automatic rifles removed only documents and laptops, but did not touch valuables, cash or gold.
As Tehran's top operative for disposing of anti-Iranian elements in Syria and Lebanon, he worked in conjunction with Bashar Assad's intelligence branches. Their most recent joint project was the roundup of Iranian-Arab exiles from Ahwaz who live in Syria.
Western sources disclose that his death caused deep shock in top Syrian and Iranian government and security circles. His assassins' success in reaching this top secret agent in the most closely-guarded neighborhood of the capital, seat of Syrian government institutions and domicile of senior officials, has caused Syrian intelligence and the regime as a whole deep embarrassment - particularly after a long series of hits against high-profile Hizballah and Hamas operatives in the Syrian capital's most secure districts - like the case of Hizballah commander Imad Mughniyeh.

The victim was close to the al Qods Brigades chief Gen. Qassem Suleimeni, who is entrusted with the Islamic Republic's most hush-hush clandestine operations. French sources stress, on the other hand, that he was also a personal friend of the Iranian general who recently defected to the West. They name him as Gen. Reza Baba Hossein, the first time, DEBKAfile's sources note, that an Iranian general has been publicly named as a defector to the West.
Sultan's duties and diverse connections suggest three possible parties may have wanted him dead:

1. More than one foreign element had an interest in sabotaging Iran's covert activities in Syriaand Lebanon and the intelligence partnership between Tehran and Damascus.
2. Syrian opposition exiles in Paris point the finger at their Sunni compatriots who are involved in activities for weakening Iranian and Shiite influence in their country.
3. Sultan's friendship with the defecting general may have aroused Tehran's suspicion that he abetted his friend's escape - or even had contacts in Western intelligence himself - in which case, Iranian intelligence would have no qualms about signing his death warrant.

Israel condemns "distorted" Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference motion

DEBKAfile Special Report May 30, 2010, 10:14 AM (GMT+02:00)

Tags: Israel Nuclear-free Mid East Obama

NSA James Jones stands up for Israel at NPT parley

Israel will not implement the unanimous Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review conference resolution due to its "flawed, hypocritical and distorted nature," according to a government statement.
President Barack Obama and senior US officials deplored Israel's mention in the resolution passed by the 189 NPT members Friday, May 29, which called for a Middle East nuclear-free conference in two years, demanded that Israel sign the treaty and submit to international inspections: "We strongly oppose efforts to single out Israel," said Obama, "and will oppose actions that jeopardize Israel's national security."

Leading the US delegation, National Security Adviser James Jones said the failure of the resolution to mention Iran, "which poses the greatest threat of nuclear proliferation in the region and to the integrity of the NPT, is also deplorable."
Iran's chief delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh said the Americans should "think twice" before making such statements. "This was not the right reaction to a positive response, positive measure by our delegation joining the consensus," he said.

The US had "serious reservations" about the 2012 Middle East conference, said Jones. Its attendance would be voluntary "when all countries feel confident that they can attend," and the singling out of Israel by calling on the Jewish state to join the NPT and submit to UN safeguards placed the prospects of the 2012 conference "in doubt."

The Israeli statement denounced the singling out of the only true democracy in the Middle East and the only country threatened with annihilation. Yet the Iran which is racing to develop nuclear weapons and threatens to wipe Israel off the map was not even mentioned in the resolution.
The US moreover insists on a peace agreement between Israel and its neighbors being put in place before it is required to take steps on its unconfirmed nuclear arsenal.

DEBKAfile adds: This counts as the Obama administration's policy of continued support for the Jewish state's policy of nuclear ambiguity espoused by its predecessors and acceptance in advance of Israeli absenting itself from the Middle East nuclear disarmament conference in two years time.
However, after the Obama administration voted for the NPT motion mentioning Israel, the firstUS government to do so in 15 years, Israel is likely to hold out for guarantees beyond verbal statements that Washington will thwart future steps against its interests. Jerusalem has made preservation of its security a sine qua non for progress in peace diplomacy. These issues will certain be raised at the White House meeting next Tuesday, June 1 between president Obama and visiting Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, together with the climate of war engendered by Hizballah's long-range Scud missile buildup by Syria just short the Lebanese border, as revealed first by DEBKAfile and confirmed Friday, May 28 by Netanyahu in a conversation with Italian prime minister Silva Berlusconi.