"They have teams that are practised in these types of operations and are ready to move on very short notice if they get a tip-off," said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, who served with the Central Intelligence Agency for 29 years. However, if necessary, they can act swiftly. Mossad can spend months scouting out the venue for an attack and reportedly in the past they have returned to a military base in the Negev desert, where the surroundings are modified to resemble the building or street where the attack is planned, and the hit is rehearsed again and again. Dubai Police have said the suspects were only in the country for 24 hours, but they may have made an earlier reconnaissance mission if they had information in advance. Just how much groundwork was done before the attack would have depended on how far in advance the tip-off came.
Those based in Palestine are easier to compromise - members are more readily turned when threats can be made on their families. Israeli agents try hard to infiltrate enemy groups.
"They knew when he was coming, where he was staying, the room number, everything." That information may have come from a source inside Hamas. "For such an operation you need very precise intelligence, and whoever did this had it," said Yossi Melman, a journalist with Haaretz newspaper who has written two books on Israeli intelligence agencies. A surveillance team would have tailed him to the airport but his assassins already had a tip-off as to where he was heading - the hit squad, which according to Dubai police was made up of seven operatives, was lying in wait in Dubai when al Mabhouh touched down on Emirates flight EK912 at 2.55pm. It is unclear why al Mabhouh chose to travel without his bodyguards that day there was no space on the plane for his security contingent but he took it anyway. The Hamas chief would have known that Israeli agents had him in their sights, patiently waiting for an opportunity, one that came on January 19. Although there is no certainty that Mossad was responsible for the killing, both Dubai Police and intelligence analysts say it fits their pattern, and the Israeli government hasn't denied involvement. His Damascus home would have been scouted out, phones tapped and the comings and goings of neighbours and visitors meticulously recorded. Mahmoud al Mabhouh was probably watched closely for months. Agents of Kidon, the department of Mossad that carries out assassinations, can spend decades waiting for the perfect moment to strike a target on their "wanted list".
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