Nov. 17, 2002. 01:00 AM

MITCH POTTER MIDDLE EAST BUREAU

JERUSALEM—A Lebanese-born Canadian in Israeli custody was the training mastermind behind Friday night's sophisticated ambush that left 12 Israelis dead on the streets of Hebron, according to a Jerusalem-based intelligence Web site.

Citing unnamed Israeli military and intelligence sources, the Internet site Debka.com yesterday named former Toronto resident Fawzi Ayoub as the "super planner" who provided Palestinian gunmen in Hebron with a combat capability never before seen in the current round of hostilities.

"The setback to Israel is all the more galling considering that the Hezbollah trainer who prepared the operation and gave the Palestinian team its new capabilities has been in Israeli hands for five months," Debka alleged in its online analysis.

"He is Fawzi Ayoub, a Lebanese Hezbollah officer, who has given nothing away so far to his Israeli interrogators."

Israeli government spokesperson Danny Seaman played down the Web site's claim as unsubstantiated, noting that Ayoub is alleged to have involvement in the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, and not Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for Friday's ambush.

"At this point we still don't know whether anyone other than Islamic Jihad was involved," Seaman said. "So the suggestion that the Canadian Fawzi Ayoub had a hand in it is unsubstantiated. But the investigation continues, and I've learned never to say never."

Yesterday, Israeli soldiers retook the West Bank city of Hebron, imposed a curfew and herded about 40 blindfolded Palestinians into buses.

An adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said there was no plan to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

In Hebron, home to 130,000 Palestinians and 450 Jewish settlers, about 1,000 settlers attended a rally after the end of the Sabbath, some chanting "revenge" and "death to the Arabs." Israeli Army commanders urged settler leaders to prevent vigilante action.

In the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Islamic Jihad supporters rallied in celebration, Associated Press reported. Group leader Abdullah Shami said, "There is no room to give up or to surrender to this criminal Nazi enemy who seeks to exterminate Palestinians in collusion with America."

The U.S. State Department condemned the attack as a "heinous crime," adding that while Israel has the right to take anti-terrorism measures, it must do everything it can to prevent civilian casualties.

Early today, Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at a target near the Gaza city of Khan Younis, Palestinian officials said. The missiles hit a metal workshop, setting a fire, but no one was hurt. The Israeli military said Palestinians used the metal workshop to make weapons.

Israeli army commanders were taken aback by the complexity of the multi-phased Hebron attack, which began shortly after dusk when Palestinian gunmen opened fire as Jewish worshippers returned from prayer service at the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Initial reports said the gunmen aimed at civilian worshippers, but it later became clear the precise targets were their Israeli border police escorts.

Minutes later, army rescuers were ambushed with bullets and grenades from two separate positions as they raced along a road known as "worshipper's lane," which links the holy site to the nearby Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba.

After a firefight of more than an hour, 12 Israelis were dead and 13 wounded. Three Palestinian gunmen were also killed.

Among the Israelis killed were two Israeli Defence Forces officers, including Hebron Brigade Commander Col. Dror Weinberg, the highest-ranking Israeli casualty since fighting broke out in September, 2000. Two army soldiers, five Israeli border policemen and three Israeli civilians working with emergency security forces were also among the dead.

Ayoub, 36, was arrested June 25 in Hebron. Canadian embassy officials were denied access to visit him until last month, when Israeli officials lifted a publication ban on his case, simultaneously releasing an intelligence dossier alleging he was sent by Hezbollah as a training operative to introduce a new level of sophistication to Palestinian attacks.

-- Anonymous, November 17, 2002