Tuesday, January 22, 2013

New Indications Hezbollah To Be Implicated In Bulgarian Terrorist Attack On Israelis

On Friday I posted about Mixed Signals on Bulgarian Terrorist Report, where Israeli TV reported about a secret visit by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister to share results of its investigation indicating Hezbollah was behind the terrorist attack last July -- while Bulgaria claimed the ministry was visiting to discuss the marking of the upcoming 70th anniversary since the rescuing of the Bulgarian Jews.

Now the Lebanese Daily Star is reporting Bulgaria has evidence linking Hezbollah to Burgas bombing:

Bulgaria has informed European officials of evidence implicating Hezbollah in last year’s attack on an Israeli bus at the Black Sea airport of Burga, Al-Hayat, quoting a source, reported Tuesday.

The paper, quoting what it described as a “European source,” reported that Bulgaria’s interior minister informed his European counterparts during a closed-door meeting last Thursday of evidence collected by authorities indicating Hezbollah’s involvement in the July 18 bomb attack.

Al-Hayat is reporting that a news conference will be held next week, where the Bulgarian minister will discuss the investigation. Ideally, that is when the results of the probe will be made official.

If the results point, as expected, to Hezbollah as being behind the terrorist attack, it would make it difficult for the EU to continue refusing to blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist group after it had carried out such an attack on European soil.

As it is, the EU is expected to discuss blacklisting Hezbollah next month.

Approving such a move will be one more strike against the Iranian proxy -- and by extension, against Iran as well, especially as it is unlikely Hezbollah would make such a move without the backing and approval of Iran.

Combined with the expected fall of the Assad regime in Syria -- despite the efforts of both Iran and Hezbollah to help with the murderous crackdown -- the pariah status of Hezbollah would be a blow to Iran's attempt to extend its influence.

More will be known after next week's news conference.

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