Israel's Counter Terrorism Bureau, a section of the Prime Minister's Office, has issued an urgent warning to Israelis abroad to be vigilant against possible kidnappings by Lebanese resistance organization, Hezbollah.
Although the bureau has specific information about where these possible kidnappings could take place, the warning applied to Israelis traveling abroad in general.
In its warning last week the bureau explained that intelligence reports suggested Hezbollah was planning possible abductions in revenge for the assassination of Imad Mughnieh, the militia's operations chief, who was killed in a Damascus car bombing in February this year.
While Israel has denied any involvement in the killing, London's Sunday Times quoted "well informed Israeli sources" as saying Israel's international intelligence agency Mossad was definitely involved.
Hezbollah for its part stated that Israel would pay the price for Mughnieh's murder either in Israel or abroad.
The counter terrorism bureau's statement urged Israeli travelers to be extremely cautious about "unusual events," not to accept any business or recreational offers, and to refuse entry to suspicious people or unknown visitors trying to get into their hotel rooms or apartments.
Israelis were also warned not to visit remote locations, especially after dark and to attend business meetings and other activities only accompanied by people known and trusted.
Due to Israel's belief that it is only a matter of time before Israelis are kidnapped outside of Israel, following advice from Jerusalem Jewish and Israeli institutions, including Israeli aircraft and ships, have stepped up security precautions.
Last week an Israeli businessman in his 60s and from central Israel was abducted in Nigeria. At first there were fears that the kidnapping was politically related but later on it turned out to be economically motivated by criminal elements.
Several hundred foreigners have been kidnapped in Nigeria over the past few years for both political and economic reasons, the latter related to the country's wealthy oil delta, which some Nigerian political organizations view as being unfairly exploited by Western oil companies based in the area.
The particular Nigerian gang that was responsible for the kidnapping of the businessman, who is an employee of Gilmor, a company dealing with large-scale projects in Nigeria, demanded $12 million for his safe return.
Whether the ransom was paid or not is uncertain; however, he was released on Monday.
Despite the motivation for the abduction being economic and criminal, prior to his release one of Nigeria's largest guerilla groups stepped in to offer assistance in securing his freedom.
Jomo Gbomo, a spokesman for the armed group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), told Israeli authorities that his organization would attempt to contact the kidnappers and appeal for the humane treatment of the Israeli businessman if so requested by the Israeli government. But Gbomo confirmed that MEND would not intervene politically.
However, in a later e-mail to the Israeli daily Haaretz newspaper, the guerilla leader stated that his organization would no longer help Israel until the Jewish state rescinded its description of MEND as a "terrorist organization" and further said that Israel appeared to regularly confuse the definition of terrorist with that of freedom fighter, particularly in relation to the Palestinians.
Before the businessman's kidnapping and the counter terrorism bureau's warning last week, Israeli security had cautioned Israelis of possible abductions in Western Africa following specific intelligence information.
Lately, however, Israel has focused on Venezuela as a possible new venue for capturing Israelis. Together with the U.S. State Department, Jerusalem has expressed concern at the growing ties and strategic relationship between anti-American, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and Iran.
According to some media reports Hezbollah, one of Iran's regional proxies, has established a number of sleeper cells in South America, and Venezuela in particular.
The U.S. George W. Bush administration suspects that the Lebanese resistance group, however, is not the only Shiite organization to be doing this.
Iran's relationship with South America goes back a number of years and international Western intelligence agencies, with Mossad in particular, believe Iranian operatives were behind two bombing in Argentina's capital city of Buenos Aires.
In 1992, the Israeli Embassy was hit, and in 1994 the AMIA Jewish community center building in the city was bombed, leaving dozens dead and scores more wounded.
There is little doubt that Hezbollah, which has been strengthened both politically and militarily by Iran and Syria in the last few years, has both the motivation and the means to avenge Mughnieh's assassination.
And both Hezbollah and Israel know full well it is just a matter of where and when, not if.
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