Bashar al-Assad’s regime had executed one of its top chemical weapons scientists by firing squad in 2001, after he had been exposed as a US intelligence agent since 1988, The Times revealed on Monday.
The newspaper reported that, “Known to the CIA as ‘the chemist’, the scientist was on CIA payroll for 14 years, passing details of the country’s clandestine programme to develop sarin gas and other deadly nerve agents.”
The newspaper said that the revelations of the CIA spy appear in Red Line, a book by a reporter for The Washington Post, Joby Warrick.
The book title is a reference to former US President Barack Obama’s use of the term “red line” in 2012, which was blatantly crossed many times by the regime of Bashar al-Assad without any retributions from the Obama administration.
The information obtained by Zaman al-Wasl, and corroborated by the book, confirms that both Washington and Israel have been fully aware of the details of the Syrian chemical program for decades, and explains why the West does not believe the regime's claims that it handed over its entire chemical arsenal after the Ghouta massacre in 2013.
The book corresponds to information obtained by Zaman Al Wasl stating that the agent was Dr. Ayman Al Habal, director of Institute 300, who also worked for Israel under the name Saleh Al-Najm.
According to the book, the unnamed chemist provided the American intelligence services information with the location of a top-secret chemical weapons lab in Damascus, known as “Institute 3000”, as well as details of the regime's plan to use lethal chemical weapons on missile-ready warheads.
The book explains that the chemist “was recruited by the CIA after offering his services while at a conference in Europe.” He then met an American intelligence officer and Damascus, months later, and agreed on the required tasks.
According to our information, Al Habal was recruited by the Mossad during one of his medical trips to France. He provided information about the Syrian chemical program and other activities of the Center for Scientific Research for many years, as Al Habal was a member of the Center’s Board of Directors.
Al Habal was exposed when Egyptian intelligence arrested Tariq Abdel Razzaq Hussein, an Egyptian spy who revealed in his confessions that he was connected to Saleh Al-Najm through a special phone given to them by the Mossad and which can only send and receive messages and calls from one number exchanged between the two parties.
The two agents met periodically in different places in the capital, Damascus, where new information was supplied to Tariq, who sent it through an encrypted device to the Mossad.
Strangely, Assad’s regime kept the matter secret. After the arrest of Al Habal and investigation, he was executed by hanging on December 20, 2010 for spying for Israel, by order of the High Field Court in Damascus, consisting of : President of the Court at that time, Major General Bassam Antakya Lee, the Military Attorney General Brigadier General Muhammad Kanjo, Head of the Judicial and Military Discipline Branch in the Organization and Administration Division Brigadier General Jamil Suleiman, and a delegate from the Military Intelligence Division, Colonel Haitham Barakat.
Zaman Al Wasl
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