They go by different names, these anonymous agents who blend into crowds, whose roles are to spy, sabotage or kill. Sleeper cells. Clandestine networks. Covert operatives. Their names vary, as do their roles. But whatever they are called, Israel, the United States and Iran have all deployed their agents against enemies abroad.
Operation Wrath of God, for example, was Israel’s response to the killing of 11 of its athletes by Black September, a Palestinian group, during the 1972 Munich Olympics. The covert operation ran for perhaps 20 years. It targeted Black September and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), killing dozens of people in Europe and Lebanon, both intended targets and civilian bystanders, with at least one case of mistaken identity.
The end of Operation Wrath of God did not end the killing. In 2010, police in Dubai said Mossad intelligence agents assassinated Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in his hotel room. He was described as a founder of Hamas’s military wing. Police identified 26 suspects who had entered Dubai in staggered waves under fake passports.
