Eighteen years after Syrian Gen. Muhammad Suleiman was assassinated while eating dinner at his vacation home on the Syrian coast, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has revealed that Israeli forces were behind the operation.
Olmert disclosed the details in his book, confirming that Suleiman — a senior adviser to then-Syrian President Bashar Assad and a key figure behind Syria’s nuclear reactor — was eliminated by Israeli forces. Suleiman was shot and killed on August 1, 2008, while having dinner at his vacation home in Tartus.
Olmert described Suleiman as the driving force behind the Syrian nuclear reactor that Israel had destroyed in Deir ez-Zor the previous year.
According to Olmert’s account, Israeli fighters emerged from the water on the night of the assassination. The highly trained sharpshooters moved under cover of darkness until they were approximately 150 meters from the veranda where Suleiman was sitting with his guests.
The Israeli fighters positioned themselves on opposite sides of the veranda and positively identified Suleiman. Despite the presence of numerous people along the beach, Olmert said nobody noticed the Israeli commandos.
Once the order was given, three shots were fired at Suleiman, striking him in the back of the neck. Olmert described the moment of the assassination, saying that after the bullets struck him, Suleiman’s head fell backward.
Immediately afterward, the Israeli fighters withdrew toward the water and made their way to the boat waiting to extract them.
Suleiman, who was struck in the head and neck, died shortly afterward.
The Assad regime largely remained silent publicly following the assassination. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was one of the only figures to openly address the killing, telling journalists several months later that Israel was responsible because of Suleiman’s role during the Second Lebanon War.
For years, Israel did not publicly acknowledge responsibility. In 2015, The Intercept published what it described as authentic U.S. intelligence documents indicating that the operation had been carried out by Shayetet 13, the Israeli Navy’s elite commando unit. The material was linked to disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
According to Ynet, the leaked NSA document provided the first official confirmation that Suleiman’s assassination was an Israeli operation and effectively ended speculation that he had been killed as part of an internal Syrian power struggle.
Now, 18 years after the operation, Olmert’s disclosure provides direct confirmation from the man who served as Israel’s prime minister when Suleiman was eliminated.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
