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# The Global Intelligence Files

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## FOLLOW-UP #2: DISCUSSION/INSIGHT - Ethiopian planecrash- sabotageagainst HZ?

Released on 2012-09-28 05:00 GMT

Email-ID | 1121077
Date | 2010-02-01 20:52:58
From | reva.bhalla@stratfor.com
To | analysts@stratfor.com
List-Name | analysts@stratfor.com

Back and forth between ME1 and I
<if HZ controls a large degree of airport security though, why the rush to
hop on a flight during inclement weather?>
Even though HZ controls airport security, its control comes under the
watchful eyes of intelligence agents from different agencies, such as the
Sunni-controlled Lebanese internal security information segment
(pro-Hariri), Syrian intelligence, Egyptian intelligence, Saudi
intelligence and the Mossad. It is not just a question of putting
personnel and explosives on a plane, it is also making sure they are not
detected by adversaries.
<You would still have to worry about security at the destination>
Yes, but HZ agents are believed to have their own people in Addis Ababa.
It is not difficult to bribe security officers there. Keep in mind that
the Lebanese have lots of commercial contacts with Ethiopians. I
understand that HZ depends on a few Ethiopian maids who work in Lebanon to
connect them with security personnel in Lebanon. HZ uses informants and
agents from Ethipoia who masquerade as live-in maids.
<It is super easy to obtain ordnance in Africa>
I agree. We are talking here about hi-tech ordnance.
<Far less hassle and risk to buy stuff there than to transport it>
Transporting ordnance is supposed to be safe.
<This flight from Beirut to Addis Ababa is scheduled to happen every day.>
My source says there are four weekly flights, but he could be wrong.
<I don't understand what the rush would be then.>
The Iranians are panicky, and so is HZ.
<Unless there was pending attack, why cram all these guys onto one plane
when you've got a daily opportunity to do this?>
Not all guys were members in sleeper cells. Some of them were destined to
travel to the West African coast. The operatives were not high ranking,
i.e., the equivalent of enlisted men.
<Also, seems overly risky to transport assembled and activated devices on
the plane.>
They were not supposed to be assembled and activated. Here l;ies the
mystery.
<Any more thoughts on this? It just seems weird.>
Iranian and HZ standard operational procedures differ from those in the
West. Remember the several mishaps that occurred last year in HZ weapons
depots in southern Lebanon.
I trust my source but, after all, he could be off.
On Feb 1, 2010, at 11:56 AM, scott stewart wrote:
Hez and the Iranians are masters at covert operations and movements. I
can't see them making such an obvious move.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: analysts-bounces@stratfor.com
[mailto:analysts-bounces@stratfor.com] On Behalf Of Reva Bhalla
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 12:52 PM
To: Analyst List
Subject: Re: FOLLOW-UP: DISCUSSION/INSIGHT - Ethiopian planecrash-
sabotageagainst HZ?
going back to the source again with these comments
On Feb 1, 2010, at 11:47 AM, scott stewart wrote:
And it is super easy to obtain ordnance in Africa.
Far less hassle and risk to buy stuff there than to transport it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: analysts-bounces@stratfor.com
[mailto:analysts-bounces@stratfor.com] On Behalf Of Ben West
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 12:40 PM
To: Analyst List
Subject: Re: FOLLOW-UP: DISCUSSION/INSIGHT - Ethiopian plane crash-
sabotageagainst HZ?
This flight from Beirut to Addis Ababa is scheduled to happen every
day. I don't understand what the rush would be then. Unless there was
pending attack, why cram all this stuff onto one plane when you've got
a daily opportunity to do this?
Also, seems overly risky to transport assembled and activated devices
on the plane. The story of this being accidental doesn't make a whole
lot of sense to me.
scott stewart wrote:
And you still have the problems of security at your destination.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: analysts-bounces@stratfor.com
[mailto:analysts-bounces@stratfor.com] On Behalf Of Bayless Parsley
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 12:27 PM
To: Analyst List
Subject: Re: FOLLOW-UP: DISCUSSION/INSIGHT - Ethiopian plane crash -
sabotageagainst HZ?
if HZ controls airport security though, why the rush to hop on a
flight during inclement weather?
Reva Bhalla wrote:
Follow up (inquired about the oddity of loading so many HZ
operatives on a commercial airliner)
Spoke to HZ media source A. He says HZ parliamentary deputy Nawar
al-Sahili was supposed to board the doomed plane, but he changed
his mind, in addition to several other HZ members. He says the
cancellation of their flight was specifically done for security
reasons.
Lebanese military source's response to our query: He says HZ has
been under tremendous pressure to send as many operatives as
possible to East Africa. He says the Iranians wanted to to
escalate by planting more HZ operatives abroad because they were
already anticipating president Obama's escalatory tone. He says
Ethiopian Airline is convenient for HZ because they they provide
far more destinations to Africa than the Middle East Airline, the
national Lebanese carrier. He adds that HZ, which has its
intelligence agents planted in Beirut airport wait for an
opportunity to smuggle in explosives aboard departing planes. They
were definitely trying to take advantage of inclement weather when
visibility and security vigilance become low. The weather in
Beirut on the night of the crash was bad and the sky was pouring.
On Feb 1, 2010, at 9:46 AM, Reva Bhalla wrote:
Am going back to the source to inquire further on who was
actually on the plane. As STick and I discussed, in general,
this story could be true. But the 20 operatives on a plane story
doesn't quite add up. Will post an update as soon as I get it
On Feb 1, 2010, at 9:38 AM, Reva Bhalla wrote:
same exact thing they do in Yemen
On Feb 1, 2010, at 9:34 AM, Bayless Parsley wrote:
trying to support both sides?
FM: Iran Willing to Help Resolve Crisis in Somalia
17:46 | 2010-02-01
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8811121446
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki
underlined Tehran's preparedness to aid Somalia with the
resolution of the ongoing disputes and conflicts in the
African country.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to offer possible help
in resolving Somalia's problem, Mottaki said in a meeting
with Head of the African state Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on
the sidelines of the 14th African Union (AU) Summit in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia on Sunday.
The minister also voiced regret over continued instability
and insecurity in Somalia, and expressed the hope that
bilateral talks between the government of Somalia and
opposition groups as well as the moves by such regional
bodies as the African Union to mediate in the crisis would
bring the country out of the current crisis.
During the meeting, Sheikh Sharif thanked the Iranian
government and nation for their sympathy for the people of
Somalia.
Pointing to President Ahmadinejad's letter of invitation for
an official visit to Iran, Sheikh Sharif expressed the hope
that the visit would come true in the near future.
Earlier in December, Mottaki had said in a meeting with his
visiting Somali counterpart Ali Jangeli Ahmad that Tehran
has held talks with some regional groupings to help restore
stability and tranquility in Somalia.
Somalia is known to host one of the world's longest-running
humanitarian crises due to a civil war that began in 1991
and is stretched to the present
Severe drought has made matters even worse for Somalia's
population of seven million. Relief agencies say about half
of the beleaguered Somali people are in desperate need of
food aid and thus are in a state of humanitarian emergency.
--
Matthew Powers
STRATFOR Intern
Matthew.Powers@stratfor.com
scott stewart wrote:
But IRGC is seeking to solidify its ties with al-Shabaab.
I could see them sending guys to help train Somalis.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: analysts-bounces@stratfor.com [mailto:analysts-bounces@stratfor.com] On
Behalf Of Bayless Parsley
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 10:01 AM
To: Analyst List
Subject: Re: DISCUSSION/INSIGHT - Ethiopian plane crash -
sabotage against HZ?
The idea of HZ having sleeper cells in East Africa but not
West does not really make sense. West is where all the
Lebanese are; there are none in Kenya and Uganda
Kamran Bokhari wrote:
How do we really know who was on the plane? All we have
to go by is this particular report.
From: analysts-bounces@stratfor.com [mailto:analysts-bounces@stratfor.com] On
Behalf Of Reva Bhalla
Sent: February-01-10 9:48 AM
To: Analyst List
Subject: Re: DISCUSSION/INSIGHT - Ethiopian plane crash
- sabotage against HZ?
of course, but it is worth noting who was actually on
the plane. HZ does have extraordinary amount of control
over the Rafik al hariri airport in the southern suburbs
which facilitates their weapons/militant trafficking
activities
On Feb 1, 2010, at 8:20 AM, Sean Noonan wrote:
I've seen nothing like this in OS, and if written
carefully I agree. This report on passengers id
definitely interesting.
We've all agreed that the 'lightning hypothesis' is
bullshit. But the plane could have simply been
dysfunctional for many other reasons. I don't mean to
question the reliability of your sources, but just cause
HZ might have been on the plane does not mean foul
play.
The other reason to bring the US in-NTSB- is that they
are simply the best investigators.
Reva Bhalla wrote:
We have some extremely interesting insight on the
Ethiopian plane crash from several different sources
(read below). I haven't really seen this side of the
story out in the Open Source. Note that we have heard
plenty from our sources in the past about Ethiopia being
a transhipment point for weapons transfers for HZ. Would
like to put something out on this. Tactical, pls let me
know if you guys have turned up anything else in your
research on this plane crash.
Several days ago an Ethiopian plane crashed shortly
after it took off from beirut's airport. There are
speculations that the plane was struck by lightening.
This source (Lebanese military source - Reliability B)
says the lightening hypothesis is nonesense. He told me
that there were 20 Hizbullah operatives on the doomed
plane. They were trasporting explosive devices to Addis
Abab for distributing among HZ sleeping cells in Kenya
and Uganda. They were part of HZ plans to target US and
Israeli interests in the event of military strikes
against Iran. He believes an explosive device on board
seems to have went off inadvertently.
From HZ media source (Reliability - D):
HZ is enraged because Lebanese prime miniser Saad Hariri
asked the US to assist in recovering the black box of
the doomed Ehiopian plane that crashed shortly after
takeoff from Beirut airport. The US 6th fleet dispatched
Ocean Breeze to the Lebanese coast to assist in the
search. HZ leadership believes that Hariri had
deliberately asked the Americans to participate in the
search to signal to it that he is the country's chief
executive. HZ has decided to remain silent on the matter
for now because most of the Lebanese who were aboard the
plane were Shiites. The bereaved families would have not
tolerated HZ efforts to block the search for the debris
and the black box. Hariri is operating under the
assumption that the crash of the 737 Boeing was due to
foul play.
Comment: The assumption about foul play or inadvertent
explosion is widespread in Lebanon. Lebanese president's
Michel Suleiman's insistence from the beginning on
ruling out sabotage, even before investigators went to
work on the causes of the crash, is seen as a defensive
posture. Official releases have consistently
highlighted, without independent verification, that
there is no trace of explosive material in the recovered
debris. Hariri realizes that HZ is in control of Beirut
airport security and could load anything on any plane.
The airport's chief security officer is pro-HZ, and when
former prime minister Fuad Seniora tried to dismiss him
in 2008, HZ stormed west Beirut and forced the cabinet
to rescind its decision
Source: Director of Rafik al Hariri hospital in Beirut
(Reliability: A) -- Hasan Taj al-Dine, prominent
Lebanese Shiite diamond merchant was aboard the doomed
Ethiopian plane. He, along with some HZ operatives
aboard the plane, was supposed to take a connecting
flight from Addis Ababa to Gabon. He concurs that some
of the operatives were supposed to continue to Kenya and
Uganda, where HZ has a few sleeping cells. He added that
HZ does not have sleeping cells on the west African
coast, such as Gabon. Lebanese Shiites there told HZ
that in order for them to continue to support the party
financially, HZ must refrain from engagement in any
subversive activities on the west coast that might
reflect negatively on the affluent Shiite communities
there
--
Sean Noonan
Analyst Development Program
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
www.stratfor.com
--
Ben West
Terrorism and Security Analyst
STRATFOR
Austin,TX
Cell: 512-750-9890