The Secret of the 'Golden Photo': Olmert Reveals Details of Imad Mughniyeh's Assassination

According to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's book "Arizona We Are All," the Mossad obtained the latest image of Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh shortly before his assassination 18 years ago. Agents managed to photograph him upon his arrival in Damascus accompanied by his wife and son, while Israeli intelligence had been unaware of his appearance.

As stated in the book published by a publishing house affiliated with the Yedioth Ahronoth media group, the camouflage method used by Mossad agents to photograph Mughniyeh remains unknown. However, they had previously used glasses and other tools to photograph and document targets.

But the "golden photo" of Mughniyeh, as described by Olmert, did not only provide his latest image; it also refuted previous reports and publications claiming that Mughniyeh had undergone cosmetic surgery to change his face in order to mislead Israeli and American intelligence. Contrary to rumors, Israel's so-called "Hezbollah defense minister" had not undergone any such procedure.

The revelation of Mughniyeh's photo appears to have come by chance, coinciding with the focus of Israeli intelligence efforts on tracking Syrian General Muhammad Suleiman, who was considered the "mastermind" behind the nuclear reactor destroyed by Israeli aircraft in Deir ez-Zor in 2007.

Mughniyeh was a friend of General Suleiman and advised him on how to hide evidence from the Syrian nuclear reactor, according to Olmert's book, which takes its name from the code name of the operation to destroy the Syrian reactor.

Olmert himself acknowledged that the discovery of the Syrian nuclear reactor at the time came by chance and unexpectedly, crediting the intuition of a female Mossad graduate named "Anat." She had reviewed intelligence reports held by the agency during her training course.

Olmert confirmed in his book that none of the Mossad officers believed her intuition, considering that she "did not know the rules of the game," and she was reprimanded until she finally succeeded in proving her hypothesis.

This leads to the conclusion that reaching Mughniyeh may have been the result of a complex intelligence operation built primarily on a series of coincidences. The assassination operation relied on the Mossad and CIA planting explosives in a Jeep parked near the apartment where Mughniyeh stayed, according to Olmert's statements in the book.

Olmert mentioned in the book that former US President George W. Bush, who admired him for his willingness to make "difficult decisions," conditioned his support on killing only Mughniyeh and no one else.

When Mughniyeh descended from his apartment at night, two female Mossad officers positively identified him based on the previously obtained photo. From the Mossad command room, where representatives of the CIA were also present, the execution order was issued, resulting in the assassination of Mughniyeh and his personal guard.

It is unclear to what extent security technology was employed in tracking and assassinating Mughniyeh, but Olmert noted that Israel's resources in imaging and satellites were directed toward Syria and its nuclear reactor at the time, at the expense of tracking the captured Israeli soldier in Gaza, Gilad Shalit, arguing that Israel's capabilities in this field were not at the level they are today.

Olmert said that Meir Dagan, who served as Mossad director at the time, had an open account with Mughniyeh, who in his youth was one of the guards of Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat.

Dagan, when he held the rank of colonel and commanded the liaison unit with Lebanon, arrested Mughniyeh in the early 1980s but ordered his release after a period, believing that Mughniyeh was a "small fish."

Mughniyeh later joined Hezbollah and transformed into a "terrorist shark," as described by Olmert, becoming one of the most wanted individuals in the world after the United States placed the largest financial reward on his "head."

Hours before the assassination, Syrian General Muhammad Suleiman and Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani also arrived at Mughniyeh's apartment. However, Israel adhered to Bush's directives, and therefore neither target was attacked during the assassination operation in Damascus.

Olmert indicated that he was on a plane returning from a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the moment the operation was executed. He stated that if he could have contacted Bush directly, he might have convinced him to approve the assassination of Suleiman earlier. Suleiman was targeted months later by Israeli naval commandos in Tartus, as well as Iranian Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the United States in Baghdad in 2020.

It is not excluded that the Mossad woman symbolically named "Anat" also played specific roles in obtaining the "golden photo" of Mughniyeh and tracking his movements leading up to the zero hour of his assassination, given that she challenged the Mossad system and stuck to her "security intuition" regarding the existence of a Syrian nuclear reactor.