Going against Showtime’s five-episode norm, Greg Barker’s Ghosts of Beirut decides to end the series one episode early, and it culminates with the CIA and Mossad closing in on Imad Mughniyeh for the final showdown. For three decades, Imad had been a ghost who struck from the shadows and left bodies as his handiwork, but in the previous episode, he’d revealed himself. His pride had been his folly, and now his face was no longer an enigma. Here’s what happens in the final episode of Showtime’s Ghosts of Beirut, as Imad Mughniyeh plans something catastrophic.
Spoilers Ahead
What Was Imad Planning?
After Imad’s face makes it to the CIA and Mossad’s HQ, the Father of Smoke is no longer a mystery but a man with a face and a family, and hence, a man with fears. However, even when the two parties meet, it’s very difficult to get the USA to sign off on a presidential finding for Imad because the American attorney wants proof that Imad is indeed a threat to the American people. Unbeknownst to them, though, at the moment, Radwan is trying to collect WMDs, namely chemical bombs, because he’s convinced 100,000 rockets won’t be enough to push Israel back. The two intelligence agencies agree to send Teddy and Lena to Damascus to gather concrete proof about Imad, and only then will the US President allow an official finding.
How Does Lena Get Presidential Authority?
Mossad’s Teddy and the CIA’s Lena return to Damascus and begin by installing cameras on the street Imad frequented to meet Iranian military general Qasem Soleimani, as well as the building he’d normally enter. Teddy, Lena, and another operative glued their eyes to the CCTV footage and waited as one of their operatives adjusted a car near the building in such a manner that it could be used as a weapon when the time was right. Inside the building, Imad and Soleimani discussed Saada’s outburst and how she put the mission at risk by hurtling into Damascus. Standing on Soleimani’s roof, the two men talked at length about Imad’s plans with the WMD, and the Iranian general declined financial assistance to acquire WMDs because this would be far too great a risk. Although Lena and Teddy had no idea what the Iranian and Lebanese men were talking about, their being gathered under the same roof was reason enough to get presidential authorization for the finding.
Why Can’t The Mossad Kill Soleimani?
However, just because he wanted to use chemical weapons on Israelis, it’d be wrong to assume that Imad was a psychopath who craved carnage; with Wafa, he was a different person altogether. He asked her if she’d like to have children with him and whether they should get married, and on another occasion, while driving into Syria, Imad, aka Radwan, played football with a bunch of kids for a long time. He was a terrorist who shed the blood of thousands of Americans, Israelis, and many other people, but he was delusional enough to truly believe he was doing all this for a cause. The Mossad prepared a car bomb within the 30-day time limit they’d acquired from the then-US President and kept reducing the damage of the blast so that only one person could be targeted. The detonation was perfected, and it was finally the night when Imad Mughniyeh could be taken down. Even better, the commander of Assad’s army, Mohammed, was joining them. However, as Imad stepped out, he wasn’t alone; the Iranian general was walking with him, and the Mossad wanted to take the shot while US Attorney Mike barked on the phone to abort the mission.
You might wonder why America didn’t want to get rid of the Iranian military general along with Imad Mughniyeh. The world politics at that moment in 2007 were such that the US military was present in Afghanistan, and it’d been only four years since the US-Iraq war had ended. Under those circumstances, it wouldn’t be possible for the US to start another war with Iran. Mossad head Meir Dagan wanted to take the shot but had to finally stand down before American demands, and Lena screamed at Teddy for wanting to go against the US.
Why Did The US President Extend The Authorization?
However, Lena quickly realized how important it was for the countries that they take down cancer like Imad, and she decided to visit the US to meet Asgari. She had one question for the Iranian deputy general: what did Imad plan to do with WMDs? With Imad’s plans about WMDs, the US President didn’t have any choice but to extend the presidential finding for another 30 days, and we all know how anxious the President back then was about WMDs; just ask Iraq. Imad had visited his wife and son in Beirut, but this time he was there to collect his things because he’d decided he’d be starting a life with Wafa. Saada demanded a divorce, but he wouldn’t free her of the gilded cage where she’d stay and pretend her husband served the nation. Imad returned to Damascus and told Wafa that he wouldn’t be late in returning, and she even gave him her car.
Does The CIA And The Mossad Get Imad Mughniyeh?
Once again, Imad met Soleimani and Mohammad in their usual place, and Radwan agreed that Hezbollah would take full responsibility for using chemical weapons. To his pleasant surprise, Soleimani and Mohammad agreed to get Imad the WMDs, and they left quickly to visit a bar. Imad, however, told Wafa that his plan had succeeded and he was coming home. As Imad got out of the building, Teddy and the entire operations room held their breath while another operative counted down until Imad reached his car. Strategically placed near Imad’s car was the special car that Mossad operative Ahmad had left, with the specially made bomb in the tire and a camera to assess the impact. As the countdown neared zero, Imad could be seen looking directly at the camera inside the tire, standing beside the car. Teddy gave the signal, and the bomb went off; Imad Mughniyeh, aka Radwan, aka The Ghost, aka the Father of Smoke, had been killed.
We don’t see Imad’s body, but the confirmation is sent to Meir and Mike separately, and the two nations collectively deny any part in the killing. However, the operatives who were in the room that night and every Israeli or American who knew the terror that Imad was couldn’t help but rejoice at the death of this merchant of death. In two separate cities, two women wept for the death of the same man while the streets were flooded with people. A Lebanese journalist says that the people had photoshopped Imad’s face to the moon. For the world, Imad was a warmonger and had his WMD plan gone through, he’d have exceeded Bin Laden as the worst terrorist to exist, but it was thanks to people like Teddy and Lena that he was eliminated. The operation was over, the terrorist was dead, and the world never knew about the people who were behind such a noble task.
Ghosts Of Beirut Episode 4 Ending Explained
Yes, it was a noble task. Imad Mughniyeh was a terrorist who bartered carnage and death and hid behind the garb of a liberator of Lebanon. One can’t defend a man as a do-gooder who’d planned to use chemical bombs on Israel, knowing it wouldn’t just target the soldiers. If the anti-war poems of Wilfred Owen have taught us anything, chlorine bombs used to melt soldiers faces, and by the time their bodies were carted off, they were piles upon piles of meat. That was 100 years ago, and Imad wanted the same for the people of Israel. Killing one such cancerous entity to save millions of innocents can’t be frowned upon, and his death stopped such a calamity from becoming a reality. Who knows how many more deaths this world would’ve had to witness had Imad been allowed to roam free? The Ghost of Beirut was dead, and the world didn’t even know how thankful they were to the ones who made it happen.
