He had reportedly been the target of the Israeli Mossad in the 1990s, but Israel denied responsibility for the killing. The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, suggested that internal Hezbollah factions or Syria may be to blame for the killing. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported that Hezbollah sources said they would retaliate for Mughniyah’s death by assassinating Israeli leaders. On February 27 Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that several Arab states helped the Mossad carry out the bombing. In August 2008, Hezbollah opened a multi-media exhibit in Nabatiye, Lebanon, commemorating Mughniyah as a Hezbollah hero. The exhibit includes display cases containing personal possessions such as his prayer mat, slippers and hairbrush, along with guns, tanks, bloodstained clothing and fake skeletons portraying the so-called “invincible Israeli soldier.” Busloads of schoolchildren are brought in to learn the “culture of resistance.”
