ISRAEL

By LISA BEYER/JERUSALEM

Fresh from its botched keystone-kops hit on a Hamas leader in Jordan, the Mossad, Israel's vaunted spy agency, finds itself again looking inept. It turns out that a veteran agent of the organization has long been fabricating intelligence reports that have led the Mossad to take a hawkish view of Syria's military intentions and capabilities. The agent, who is under investigation, claimed he based his reports on the information of a key source, a non-Arab closely tied to the inner circle in Damascus. Israeli officials now say the agent, briefly a right-wing political activist, was making up much of what he reported. They also say the agent pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars, which were to be paid to his source.

--By Lisa Beyer/Jerusalem