Mossad intelligence-gathering at its finest

No one will ever know for sure precisely how Mossad tipped off Benjamin Netanyahu that the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah would be at a certain address on a certain day at a certain time in a suburb of Beirut. But you can be sure that when the Israeli prime minister took the phone call from Tel Aviv shortly after his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday late morning, he was informed that 100 per cent identity had been confirmed and that a bunch of heavy bombs, probably 2,000 pounders, would do the trick to destroy the building and the bunker in which he was presiding over a meeting of surviving Hezbollah leaders and an Iranian general. What would Netanyahu have said? "Go ahead", or "Permission approved", or "Go for it", or perhaps there was a special code. But within minutes the 2,000 pounders attached to Israeli F-15 jets were airborne and on their way. Mossad has been showing in recent months that its intelligence-gathering is second to none. Unlike the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden which was only 60 per cent confirmed by the CIA, I suspect Mossad's confirmation was so positive Netanyahu wouldn't have had time to blink before he gave his go ahead. Mossad agents, whether disguised as Lebanese fruit sellers or passing taxi drivers or "homeless" bodies on the street opposite the Hezbollah HQ would have spotted the arrival of Nasrallah and then whispered into their hidden mics. Nasrallah, with his long white beard and turban would have been relatively easy to identify. Why he took the risk of entering the HQ building at all, again we will never know, except that Netanyahu's presence in New York at the UN must have been a gambling factor. Nasrallah and his security advisers were fooled. The Israeli leader was always ready to seize the moment when his Mossad agents came up with the goods. And what better time to do it when he was haranguing the UN and anti-Israel political leaders and pledging to win win win against Hamas and Hezbollah whatever the cost.