BEIRUT — In Hezbollah's inner circle they called him "The One Who Never Sleeps."
Imad Mughniyah was one of the most hunted men in the world. Western security forces spent 25 years pursuing the Hezbollah warlord, the alleged mastermind of infamous attacks of the late 20th century and a pioneer of brutal tactics later emulated by Al Qaeda. In fact, he may have proved a more disciplined, effective master of asymmetric warfare than even Osama bin Laden.
Mughniyah survived through anonymity: changing hide-outs, moving without bodyguards or drivers, a pistol always in his belt. On the evening of Feb. 12, he left a safe house in the Kfar Soussa neighborhood of Damascus, a warren of nearly identical towers that house the employees and headquarters of Syria's vast intelligence apparatus.
He had just held a sit-down with a Syrian spy chief and was preparing for a secret meeting that night with President Bashar Assad, Western anti-terrorism officials say.
Seconds after Mughniyah got behind the wheel of his sport utility vehicle, an explosion incinerated him. The assassination in the heart of an authoritarian state ended his bloody odyssey through the modern history of terrorism.
His death at 45 remains as mysterious as his life. Interviews with anti-terrorism officials, diplomats and his associates reveal new details about the exploits of this secretive figure -- and about a slaying that may have been an inside job.
Mughniyah's role at the hub of a murky alliance of Hezbollah, Syria and Iran made him powerful but vulnerable, officials say. The likeliest scenario is that Israel eliminated him. But the aftermath has reinforced signs of potential Syrian involvement and exposed tensions among Syria, Iran and Hezbollah, Western officials say.
"What's troubling is that even if it was the Israelis, it happened in Damascus in a safe area meters from the office of [intelligence] chief Assef Shawkat," said a Western diplomat in the Syrian capital.
Iran and Hezbollah have sworn revenge, putting Israel on worldwide alert for the kind of attacks that were once Mughniyah's trademark.
Mughniyah sounded self-effacing in a rare interview he gave to a pro-Hezbollah newspaper not long before his death and published afterward.
"The Americans are making up stories about me and hold me responsible for a lot of attacks against them that happened around the world," he told Ibrahim al Amine of Lebanon's Al Akhbar. "Sometimes they think of me as if I have the key to the universe. It is difficult for them to understand that I am part of an institution that patiently plans and designs its moves."
