"[I]f they [the Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." -- Hasan Nasrallah, leader of Hizballah
"Cyprus bomb-plot suspect admits Hezbollah ties," by Benjamin Weinthal for the Jerusalem Post, February 20 (thanks to Anne Crockett):
BERLIN – Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, one of the suspects in a thwarted terrorist attack against Israelis in Cyprus in July, admitted on Wednesday in court that he is a member of Hezbollah.Yaacoub, a 24-year old Lebanese-Swedish citizen, faces eight charges in the criminal court in the city of Limassol. The Cypriot authorities charged him with membership in a criminal organization whose aim is “carrying out missions in any part of the world, including the Cyprus Republic, against Israeli citizens,” among seven other crimes – reduced from an original 17 terrorism-related charges.
The Jerusalem Post has learned that Yaacoub said under oath on Wednesday that while he came to Cyprus without Hezbollah connections, he met with an operative named Ayman from the Lebanese terrorist group. Yaacoub said he knew how to use weapons but that the purpose of his visit to Cyprus was business.
It is unclear if Yaacoub’s meeting with the Hezbollah operative took place in Cyprus, Lebanon or Sweden.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Yaacoub told the court, “I never saw the face of Ayman because he was always wearing a mask,” and that Ayman picked Yaacoub up in a van. Yaacoub conducted surveillance of places where Israelis would visit, including a “parking lot behind a Limassol hospital and a hotel called the Golden Arches,” the Times reported.
Magnus Ranstorp, a Hezbollah expert at Sweden’s National Defense College, told the Post on Tuesday that Hezbollah uses “talent scouting” to recruit operatives for its activities abroad. Though Hezbollah had no “overt presence” in Sweden, he said, its members from Sweden keep “popping up regularly.”...


























More on this:
The defendant, who has dual Lebanese and Swedish nationalities, said he received orders from a masked Hezbollah operative called Ayman and was told to stake out hotels on the holiday island frequented by Israelis, including in Limassol and Ayia Napa.
Cyprus police have refused to comment publicly on the case, describing it as a "sensitive political issue".
Shortly after Yaacoub's arrest, five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver were killed in a bus bombing at an airport in Bulgaria, the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004, which Israel blamed on Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.
At Wednesday's court hearing, Yaacoub was unable to answer questions about a red notebook containing the registration numbers of tourist buses that he had with him at the time of his arrest.
He said he had received weapons and acted as a courier for Hezbollah in Europe, delivering packages whose contents he said he was unaware of, to the French city of Lyon and to Amsterdam, and to Antalya in southwest Turkey.
"I never wanted to hurt anyone, I have no affiliation with terrorism and I am not a member of a terrorist or criminal organisation," Yaacoub said in his testimony.
His trial is set to continue on Thursday.
Officials have said there is no evidence directly linking Yaacoub with the Bulgaria attack, despite remarks in July by Cypriot Justice Minister Loucas Louca who said there were similarities between his behaviour and that of the Burgas bomber.
Cyprus is a popular tourist destination for Israelis, nearly 40,000 of whom visited last year.
The island saw attacks against Israeli interests in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but since then it has been viewed as a relative regional safe haven, and neutral ground for unofficial Middle East peace contacts.
Ties between Israel and Cyprus have strengthened in recent years, with the two countries discussing the joint development of offshore gas discoveries.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/lebanon-spy-suspect-held-in-cyprus-admits-hezbollah-ties-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=41578&NewsCatID=352