Edward Snowden files show Israel assassinated top Syrian general

The latest NSA secrets released by American whistleblower Edward Snowden shows that Israel assassinated a top Syrian general on a beach in Spain in 2008.

The shadowy Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Suleiman, a close adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was shot by Israeli naval commandos, who are believed to have done so with snipers based on a yacht moored offshore at the port of Tartus.

Eleven months earlier, Israeli planes had attacked and destroyed a suspected nuclear site on the Euphrates River, reported to be one of Suleiman’s special projects. He is also believed to have been Assad’s liaison to Hezbollah.

Snowden, who worked for the National Security Agency before revealing vast surveillance abuse, has provided journalists with documents including the NSA’s internal version of Wikipedia. This lists the Israelis as the assassins, noting that it was the “first known instance of Israel targeting a legitimate Syrian government official”.