Hamas drone engineer shot dead was suspected of training Al Qaeda

Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers issued one report after another on the assassination of Moham Al Zoari, 49, an aviation engineer and drone expert, in Tunisia Thursday, claiming he was one of their members. They asserted that the only agency that would benefit from the hit is “the Zionist enemy” and later named the Mosad,
It was claimed that Al-Zoari, who was shot in a car outside his home in Sfax, had for the past ten years run the Hamas program for developing explosives-bearing drones for use against Israel.

The enthusiasm with which the Palestinian Islamists seized on Al-Zoari’s death suggested an opportunistic bid to propagandize their military capabilities.

The Tunisian aviation expert did in fact work for Hamas but that was only years ago – not of late. He had turned to hiring out his services as an aviation and drone development expert to Middle East clients that included Syrians, Iranians, Hizballah and Hamas.

 According to DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources, Al-Zoari’s assassination was probably motivated by activities more recent than his work for Hamas. He was suspected of using his private flying club to train would-be drone operators belonging to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which maintains bases in southern Tunisia.  Therefore the field is wide open for pinning down the motive for his assassination, as the Tunisian authorities indicated Saturday.