Dubai: Israel will for the first time officially admit the involvement of its spy agency Mossad in the Dubai assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, a British paper has reported.

The new head of Mossad, Tamir Pardo, is expected to apologise to the United Kingdom for the use of British passports in the Dubai assassination of Al Mabhouh last January and pledge not to do so again, the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper has said.

In March, the UK expelled an unnamed Israeli diplomat in retaliation for the use of British passports in the murder. Israel had previously denied responsibility but welcomed Al Mabhouh's killing.

The admission will not be public, according to the paper, which did not cite the source of the report.

"This will be one of the few times that Israel admits to one of its operations in the Arab world," said Riad Qahwaji, head of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), adding that it would in effect be an admission that the mission was a failure. Qahwaji added that Britain had no reason to believe an Israeli pledge not to use its passports in such operations again, as Israel has pledged the same before and breached the pledge. Israel promised the UK not to use its passports in Mossad operations after 12 blank British passports were found to have been left in a West German phone booth in 1986.

Major leak

The alleged apology is expected to come ahead of a major release by whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks implicating Israel in the murder, as revealed by its founder Julian Assange in a recent interview.

The United States' prompt apology to Israel and other allies before the leaks were released had led some to believe that the revelations could be embarrassing to Israel.

Rocky relations

  • Israel's relations with the UK suffered a number of blows in the past year with events that brought bilateral ties to the lowest in years:
  • December 2009: Former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni escapes arrest after fleeing the UK upon learning about a warrant in her name for suspected war crimes under UK's universal jurisdiction laws. Other politicians also face arrest.
  • March 2010: UK expels an Israeli diplomat after 12 forged British passports are found to have been used in the Dubai assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh.
  • July 2010: Israel objects to UK prime minister David Cameron's likening of Gaza to a "prison camp".
  • August 2010: Israeli president Shimon Peres calls England "anti-Semitic", saying the UK "panders" to Muslim voters.
  • December 2010: Following Israeli pressure, UK moves to amend laws allowing foreign politicians and diplomats to be tried in UK courts.