HOW A TERRORIST HIJACKING WAS SET UP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940073-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 73
• Publication Date: March 10, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940073-9
1r,"r M
JACK ANDERSON and DALE VAN ATTA
How a Terrorist Hijacking Was Set Up
A irplane hijackings make big headlines when
they occur. But by the very nature of these
terrorist operations, the planning that goes
into them is secret.
We can now provide a rare, behind-the-scenes
look at the preparations for a hijacking a little more
than a year ago in which two Americans were
murdered and two others tortured.
Sources at the Central Intelligence Agency have
herd us piece together the nuts-and-bolts
Planning that led to the air owe irac o uwait
Airlines Flight 221 in December 1984. Here's how
the plotters did it:
On Nov. 22, 1984, the four principal terrorists
got together in Baalbek, the main city of the Bekaa
Valley, in Syrian-controlled eastern Lebanon. They
were: Mahmoud Nourani, the Iranian charge
d'affaires in Lebanon; Sheik Sobhi Tofailli,
commander of the military forces in Baalbek for the
terrorist group Hezbollah; Hassan Hashem,
pro-Iranian leader of Moslem militia units that
control Beirut's International Airport, and Ali Al
Yafi, Lebanese Shiite Moslem who had been chosen
to lead the team of hijackers.
The targeted plane was an A310 Airbus
scheduled to fly to Bangkok with stops at Dubai and
Karachi. Al Yafi briefed his team on the
configurations of the Airbus-the location of its
exits, galleys and lavatories. Meanwhile, Iranian
spies in Kuwait were sweeping airline reservation
computers for names of any VIPs on Flight 221.
The hijacking was to occur before dawn on Nov.
27. Flight 221 would leave Kuwait the evening
before and take off from Dubai shortly after
midnight. The terrorists were to leave Beirut on a
Middle East Airlines flight the evening before and
connect with Flight 221 in Dubai.
Their weapons, to be planted on board at Dubai,
were two .25-cal. pistols (unlikely to pierce the
airplane's hull unless fired point-blank) and a single
hand grenade.
By the morning of Nov. 26, everything was set.
Then the terrorists learned that three Kuwaiti
diplomats and at least three Americans would be
aboard the same Flight 221 a week later. This
meant the hijackers would have six VIPs to be
swapped for the 17 terrorists imprisoned in Kuwait
whose release was the point of the hijacking. So the
hijacking was postponed.
After prayers on the afternoon of Dec. 3, the
hijackers were driven to Beirut airport to catch a
Middle East Airlines flight to Dubai. They had no
baggage and were driven directly to the plane,
avoiding examination of their forged travel
documents by Lebanese officials.
During the hour-long layover at Dubai waiting
for Flight 221, the hijackers sat apart in the airport
lounge, avoiding even eye contact. Al Yafi used the
interval to shave off his beard. Then they quietly
mingled with the other 14 passengers as they
boarded the flight. Two were Iranians who later
acted as spies for the terrorists, listening for hints
of resistance among the passengers.
The hijacking lasted six days and led to the
coldblooded murder of two U.S. aid officials.
International pressure led Iran to stage a phony
"rescue" as the plane sat at Tehran airport.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940073-9