Mahmoud al-Mabhouh entered the lobby of the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai just before 8.30 in the evening, one of many guests coming and going. Like them, he was captured by the closed-circuit camera over the entrance. He had black hair, a slightly receding hairline, and a thick black moustache.
He’d been in Dubai for less than six hours, but already he’d met with a banker who was helping him arrange various international financial transactions required to purchase special surveillance equipment for Hamas in Gaza. He’d also met with his regular contact from the al-Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who flew in to coordinate the delivery of two large shipments of weapons to the extremist Islamic organisation.
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