Prisoner "X" sabotaged mission to bring home soldiers' remains

Australian Mossad agent Ben Zygier unwittingly sabotaged a top secret spy operation aimed at bringing home the bodies of Israeli soldiers missing in Lebanon.

A Foreign Correspondent investigation has revealed that his reckless indiscretion caused Mossad officials to abort the sophisticated mission, an operation that would have meant closure to a 30-year campaign in Israel for the return of the remains.

The revelations shed light on the most elusive question of the Zygier story: what was his transgression?

They also quantify and characterise, for the first time, the seriousness of claims against Zygier, who was facing 22 years in prison for espionage and treason.

The Melbourne Zionist was found hanged in his cell in Israel's Ayalon prison in December 2010. His incarceration was a state secret before being exposed by Foreign Correspondent in February this year.

A Lebanese man has told the program of his role in an elaborate mission by Mossad to exhume the remains of Israeli tank crewmen who were captured and killed by Syrian forces during Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

Ziad Al Homsi, a one-time mayor of the Lebanese village of Saadnayel, claims he was recruited by Mossad in 2007, after being lured to China under the pretence of a mayoral convention.

Once in Beijing he was contacted by a Syrian man by the name of George Attar, who claimed his brother in Europe was working to return the remains of missing Israeli solders.

Mr Al Homsi told Foreign Correspondent that he suspected Mossad was behind the operation, a suspicion confirmed over five trips to Thailand to meet with other operatives involved in the mission.

He was a valued recruit for Mossad. As a leader of Lebanese forces during operations against the Israelis in the Bekka Valley, Mr Al Homsi was well connected with a thorough knowledge of battles during the Israeli invasion.

Mossad wanted to recover the remains of Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz and Tzvi Feldman, who were killed after the Battle of Sultan Yocoub, which took place in Lebanon's Bekka Valley in 1982.

Although witnesses claim to have seen the soldiers being paraded through the streets of Damascus, Mossad believed their graves were in Lebanon.

Mr Al Homsi claims Mossad operatives gave him the exact location of the graves. His job was to organise for them to be exhumed and for the remains to be left at a location disclosed to a second Mossad-sponsored group, who would take over the recovery.

But in the early hours of May 16, 2009, Mr Al Homsi was arrested by Lebanese special forces and accused of spying for Mossad.

He was later jailed for 15 years, but released after only three years.

For Israel, the damage was done. Its monumental operation to retrieve the remains of its fallen soldiers had been scuttled.

Mr Al Homsi insisted to Foreign Correspondent that he had been a double agent all along, and that Lebanese intelligence officials had supported his contact with Mossad, hoping to learn also of the location of the bodies.

Mr Al Homsi claims the Lebanese government wanted to use the remains to bargain with Israel over the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The recovery of Israeli soldiers killed in action is of extreme national importance. From all of its wars, there are currently only six Israeli servicemen missing.

Israeli officials promote rewards of up to $10 million for information that can lead them to the remains of its fallen.

It has previously emerged that Zygier had exposed Mr Al Homsi while on an unauthorised mission to persuade another Lebanese man to become a double agent.

Until now there has been no public knowledge about the precise sensitivity and implications of that exposure.

In 2008 Zygier's spy career was fading and he had been relegated to a desk job at Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv.

An investigation by Der Spiegel magazine and the Australian Fairfax Media claims Zygier was desperate to work his way back into the organisation, so to try and sway his spymasters he embarked upon a rogue mission to Europe.

There he had contact with a man working for the Lebanese Hezbollah organisation.

It is claimed Zygier tried to recruit the Hezbollah operative as a double agent, but was under pressure to prove his credentials.

To impress the man, Zygier handed over the name of one of Mossad's own informants - Mr Al Homsi, and in doing so forced Israel to abort its multinational operation to bring back the remains of its missing servicemen.

Zygier was arrested in January 2010 by Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet.

He spent months incarcerated in a high security cell at Ayalon Prison as "Prisoner X", an inmate whose identity was subject to extreme secrecy.

A court order banned any discussion of the case. Zygier was ruled to have suicided in December 2010, with the prison service blamed for negligence over a lack of supervision of his cell.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-07/zygier-sabotaged-mission-repatriate-israeli-remains-prisoner-x/4675556