Two years ago, the Russian-born Dagan, was a national hero for his successes against Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran, including several assassinations attributed to the Mossad.

Now he's being booted out, a victim of the Middle East's war of the shadows he has waged for so long.

The portly Dagan was appointed head of the Mossad by his mentor, Ariel Sharon, in 2002. His term was extended by Sharon's successor, Ehud Olmert, and again by Netanyahu after he took office for the second time in 2009.

Dubai's security authorities are convinced the agency was responsible for killing Hamas chieftain Mahmoud al-Mabhouh Jan. 19. They have listed 36 suspects who flew in and out of the Persian Gulf emirate on false non-Israeli passports.

The assassination was carried out with great precision but those involved were caught on closed-circuit video cameras, even going in and out of Mabhouh's hotel room.

The Israeli government and the Mossad have, as usual, made no comment on the accusations.

But Britain, Australia and Ireland expelled Israeli diplomats, all suspected Mossad operatives, to protest the forging of their passports.

On June 4, Poland arrested a suspected Mossad agent, identified as Uri Brodsky, after Germany issued a warrant for him on charges of fraudulently obtaining a German passport used in the Mabhouh assassination.

Germany has demanded Brodsky's extradition and since the Polish security service maintains close links with its German counterpart, the BND, he's expected to be handed over, despite official Israeli protests.

Brodsky, who denies any connection with the Mossad, isn't suspected of involvement in the Mabhouh killing and isn't on Dubai's suspects list. But Berlin is incensed by the use of its passports in the assassination and he is likely to face trial in Germany. If convicted, he faces a 5-year sentence for obtaining a document by fraud.

Despite Israel's silence on the Dubai killing, the assassination of Mabhouh has caused immense diplomatic and political damage to the Jewish state at a time when it was battered by global condemnation for invading the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and killing 1,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

The May 31 killing of nine Turkish peace activists aboard a Turkish-flagged ship carrying humanitarian aid to blockaded Gaza that was intercepted in the Mediterranean by Israel's navy intensified the global outcry and heightened Israel's growing sense of isolation.

In the eyes of the world, Dagan, as head of the Mossad, has been held responsible for the killing in Dubai, although it is the furor over the forged foreign passports that has caused much of the international opprobrium Israel is facing over the incident.

He has been a controversial figure since the early 1970s when he headed an undercover army unit in the Gaza Strip. Sharon was then his commander as head of Israel's southern command.

Dagan's men, who disguised themselves as Arabs, killed dozens of suspected Palestinian militants and for a time pacified the Gaza Strip. He later conducted clandestine operations in Lebanon that also allegedly involved a number of assassinations.

When Sharon became prime minister, he put Dagan in charge of the Mossad, whose morale at the time was hitting rock bottom because of failed operations, damaging turf wars within the organization and lackluster leadership.

Netanyahu kept him on. But the prime minister has a poor record in his dealings with the Mossad. During his first term as prime minister he sanctioned an attempt to kill Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Jordan in September 1997 by spraying poison in his ear. Other bungled operations followed.

The agents who carried out the attack made a mess of it and were caught. King Hussein of Jordan, who had signed a peace treaty with Israel several years earlier at some considerable risk to his life and throne, was incensed.

Netanyahu had to very publicly provide an antidote to save Meshaal's life and free dozens of Arab prisoners, including Hamas' founder, the iconic Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in return for his agents' release.

Netanyahu would have had to sanction the Mabhouh plot, as he did with Meshaal. But it is Dagan paying the political price.

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