Assassination Accusations Abound in Lebanon
Posted by Joshua on Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
Lebanon's parliamentary majority leader, Saad Hariri, said he has evidence that a senior Syrian official has been plotting to assassinate him and Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. Hariri was in Cairo and responded to a reporter who asked whether Syrian military intelligence chief Assif Shawkat was behind the alleged plot.
"We have information about this, and it is accurate, " he said. He said Lebanon's security services are following up on intelligence about the alleged assassination plot, which he said also targeted Prime Minister Siniora.
Alex writes:
The secretary general of the youth movement of George Haoui … who was one of the “Lebanese martyrs” supposedly assassinated by Syria (god nows why!) … is now publicly accusing the Saudi fundamentalists of killing the Late Hariri and accusing the Mossad of killing his idol, George Haoui.
Last month, Nasrallah committed for the first time publicly, to a clear position … Syria is innocent.
Both men did not do so in the past … they reached this conclusion lately.
t_desco replies:
The Daily Star Thursday, October 25, 2007
BEIRUT: The family of slain former Lebanese Communist Party leader Georges Hawi announced on Wednesday that it had filed a lawsuit against Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency accusing it of plotting his assassination on June 21, 2005.
Speaking during a news conference at the Bristol Hotel, Hawi’s step-son, Raffy Madayan, lashed out at the Lebanese authorities for “overlooking the issue of political assassinations and focusing on the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri solely.”
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in his latest speech, accused Israel of plotting the string of political assassinations which took place over the past few years; the March 14 Forces, meanwhile, holds Syria responsible.
Madayan accuse el-Qaëda de l’assassinat de Hariri, L’Orient-Le Jour,
M. Rafi Madayan, secrétaire général de « la jeunesse de Georges Haoui » (ancien secrétaire général du Parti communiste libanais assassiné à Beyrouth en juin 2005), a tenu hier une conférence de presse au cours de laquelle il a notamment accusé « le fondamentalisme saoudien représenté par el-Qaëda d’avoir commandité l’assassinat de Rafic Hariri et les autres assassinats politiques (perpétrés depuis le retrait syrien), alors que le gouvernement libanais pointe un doigt accusateur en direction de la Syrie ». « L’Arabie saoudite désire-t-elle accuser la Syrie afin de détourner l’attention de tout suspect saoudien ? s’est interrogé M. Madayan. Qu’en est-il en outre des informations faisant état d’un financement libanais visant à mettre sur pied un parti syrien opposant qui œuvrerait à partir du Liban ? » Après avoir demandé à Mme Nazek Hariri d’« intervenir afin de mettre un terme à ce conflit syro-libanais, chiito-sunnite et libano-libanais », M. Madayan a accusé le Mossad d’avoir assassiné Georges Haoui.
Al-Akhbar, As-Safir
Sayyed urges authorities to probe Al-Qaeda link to Hariri killing, from Daily Star
"Why are the printed confessions of a 13-member group called Al-Qaeda in Balad al-Sham admitting their involvement in Hariri's killing completely disregarded?" Sayyed asked in a statement released by his lawyer, Akram Azoury.
Sayyed was referring to a series of articles on the confessions published last week by the local daily Al-Akhbar, entitled the "The group of 13 and assassination of Rafik Hariri."
The articles included lengthy excerpts of the alleged confessions and details outlining how the statements were extracted under torture, as well as the names of the members belonging to the Al-Qaeda splinter group.
Local media outlets circulated unconfirmed reports that the excerpts were actually
taken from the notes of a preliminary investigation by the former public prosecutor, Adnan Adoum.
Israeli Minister: Israel is ready to return Golan for peace
Science, Culture and Sport Minister Raleb Majadele said Friday that Israel is ready to pay the price of peace with Syria, which he described as a withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with the entire Arab world…
“Israel will not be able to normalize relations with Arab nations without paying the price of anything related to the Palestinian issue,” he said…
He reiterated that he doesn’t rule out the possibility that “the fate of the settlements in the West Bank will be the fate of the settlements from the Gaza Strip,” referring to Israel’s 2005 withdrawal of settlements from the coastal territory…
Also don’t miss: Speakers in UN General Assembly Second Committee call on Israel to stop destroying infrastructure, causing environmental damage in occupied Arab lands
Alex,
I think that it is possible that Zarqawi ordered the assassination, based on the link discovered by Nibras Kazimi. Having said that, the testimony by Faisal Akbar is not without problems. I am planning to write about it and the “cell of 13″ (and also about Fatah al-Islam as both are linked to the Dinniyeh group), but I am kind of hoping that Nibras Kazimi will comment on the contradictions between the various testimonies which I find rather confusing. It is regrettable that there is not more discussion about this.
The "confessions" printed in al-Akhbar have been well translated by Nibras Kazimi