Salaf_us_Saleh
Junior Member
Michel Samaha, a former Lebanese minister, reportedly confessed to helping plan attacks on Sunni targets in Lebanon. If true, it illustrates how far Syria's Assad regime can reach into Lebanon.
Michel Samaha, a former Lebanese minister who is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has reportedly confessed to helping plan a series of bomb attacks against Sunni targets in north Lebanon at the behest of the Syrian leadership.
The discovery of the reported bomb plot will have significant political repercussions if confirmed and will harden fears in Lebanon that the embattled Assad regime is seeking to export its troubles to its tiny neighbor, which is split between supporters and opponents of the Syrian president.
Also, the detention in Lebanon of an influential pro-Syrian politician is highly unusual, suggesting that the Lebanese police had compelling evidence before detaining Mr. Samaha.
“No one would have dared to arrest Samaha, neither the security agencies nor the judiciary, if the [authorities] had no evidence proving Samaha’s involvement in the charges issued against him,” Khaled Daher, a Sunni parliamentarian from north Lebanon and outspoken critic of the Assad regime, told the Kuwaiti newspaper As-Seyassah in an interview published today.
RELATED – Hezbollah 101: Who is Hezbollah, and what do they want?
Officers from the information branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces raided Samaha’s home in the village of Kinshara north of Beirut early yesterday, bundling the pajama-clad former minister into a car and seizing documents, CDs, and computers and reportedly $170,000 in cash. His bodyguard, secretary, and driver were also detained for questioning, although they were released later that day.
According to Lebanese media reports, the alleged bomb plot was discovered when a man identified only by his family name, Kfouri, became an informant for the police after Samaha allegedly attempted to recruit him for the operation. According to the reports, the most damning piece of evidence against Samaha is video footage shot in secret by Kfouri in which Samaha discusses the plot.
The video allegedly shows Samaha saying “this is what Bashar wants,” a reference to the Syrian president. The video also reportedly shows Samaha saying that he received the bombs from General Ali Mamlouk, the head of the Syrian General Security Directorate.
The targets were reported to be a series of iftars, the evening meal that breaks the daily fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan, that would have brought together Sunni notables in north Lebanon, an area of strong support for the Syrian opposition. One report claimed that the attacks would have coincided with a visit by the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Rai, to north Lebanon between Aug. 13 and 18.
Although Samaha is no longer a minister nor member of parliament, he still has considerable political influence because of his close personal ties to Mr. Assad. In July 2008, when a small Lebanese delegation headed by President Michel Suleiman paid a visit to Assad at his hotel during a state visit to Paris, its members were surprised to see Samaha, a Lebanese, included in the Syrian delegation. The incident underlined Samaha’s influence with Damascus and, therefore, the significance of his arrest by the Lebanese police yesterday.
Mr. Assad was reported to have personally contacted senior Lebanese officials yesterday to demand his release.
In the first response by the powerful Shiite group Hezbollah, an ally of Samaha, Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad denounced the detention and claimed that it was a set-up.
“We have long experienced such security fabrications; some judges are connected to suspicious security services,” he said yesterday.
Wafik Safa, Hezbollah’s top security chief, reportedly visited the police headquarters where he was shown some of the evidence implicating Samaha.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Midd...rested-for-planning-attacks-for-Syria-s-Assad
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The detention of a well-known Lebanese political figure, Michel Samaha, has underlined the explosive potential of the Syrian crisis and how it stretches into the heart of Lebanese politics.
Mr Samaha, a former information minister and member of parliament, was escorted from his home in the hills near Beirut by security forces early on Thursday morning.
He is known for his strong ties with the Syrian regime and with President Bashar al-Assad personally.
He is reported to have been detained by personnel from the Information [intelligence] Branch of General Security on instructions from the acting public prosecutor.
That security branch has the reputation of being loyal to the staunchly anti-Syrian "March 14th" faction, headed by Saad al-Hariri, former prime minister and son of the assassinated Sunni leader Rafiq al-Hariri, also a former prime minister.
That such a detention should take place under the current Lebanese government was seen as highly unusual.
The government excludes the March 14th coalition, is backed by Hezbollah, and includes Syria's allies in Lebanon.
Current Prime Minister Najib Miqati was quoted as saying that the detention was security-related but had nothing to do either with the locally-controversial international tribunal on the Hariri assassination, or the possibility of his being an Israeli agent.
It is believed that Mr Samaha is being questioned in connection with efforts to destabilise the country through bomb explosions and assassination attempts.
The anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea, whose now-dissolved Lebanese Forces used to be one of the main fighting factions in civil war days, was the target of an apparent would-be assassination in April which failed.
Several other anti-Syrian figures have said they have information that they are under threat of assassination on Syria's behalf.
Michel Samaha used to belong to the largely Maronite Christian Phalangist Party, of which Mr Geagea's Lebanese Forces were an offshoot.
But both the Phalangist Party and the Lebanese Forces are now firmly in the anti-Syrian camp, while Mr Samaha has retained his friendship and ties with the Syrian regime.
That means he has no immediate personal political power base, which is one reason why reaction to his detention has been relatively muted.
The implication of the reaction that there has been, is that there must be some kind of evidence that merits investigation.
Prime Minister Miqati, a Sunni regarded as generally sympathetic to Syria without being in thrall to it, was quoted as saying that he knew beforehand about the impending detention, and that the outcome of the investigation should be awaited.
'Political' step
The reaction of Hezbollah itself, a close ally of Damascus, was also low-key.
Given Mr Samaha's prominent profile, some observers believed it likely that the President, Michel Suleiman, who is also a Maronite Christian and is seen as a fairly neutral figure, would also have known about the impending move.
But there was considerable shock about the manner in which his detention was conducted, with security forces raiding his house at 07:30 local time (04:30 GMT) and dragging him from his bed.
He was taken away swiftly, but agents then spent several hours combing through his house.
His family, and pro-Syrian political allies, have charged that the step is blatantly political.
Much will clearly depend on what results the investigation by the public prosecutor's office produces.
Despite the fault-line running through Lebanese politics from across the Syrian border, and the obvious potential for serious trouble, the situation has so far remained relatively contained.
Above all, Hezbollah, by far the most powerful faction in the country, has shown no sign of spoiling for a fight in the domestic arena, as it watches its allies in the Syrian regime struggling for survival.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19200058
Michel Samaha, a former Lebanese minister who is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has reportedly confessed to helping plan a series of bomb attacks against Sunni targets in north Lebanon at the behest of the Syrian leadership.
The discovery of the reported bomb plot will have significant political repercussions if confirmed and will harden fears in Lebanon that the embattled Assad regime is seeking to export its troubles to its tiny neighbor, which is split between supporters and opponents of the Syrian president.
Also, the detention in Lebanon of an influential pro-Syrian politician is highly unusual, suggesting that the Lebanese police had compelling evidence before detaining Mr. Samaha.
“No one would have dared to arrest Samaha, neither the security agencies nor the judiciary, if the [authorities] had no evidence proving Samaha’s involvement in the charges issued against him,” Khaled Daher, a Sunni parliamentarian from north Lebanon and outspoken critic of the Assad regime, told the Kuwaiti newspaper As-Seyassah in an interview published today.
RELATED – Hezbollah 101: Who is Hezbollah, and what do they want?
Officers from the information branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces raided Samaha’s home in the village of Kinshara north of Beirut early yesterday, bundling the pajama-clad former minister into a car and seizing documents, CDs, and computers and reportedly $170,000 in cash. His bodyguard, secretary, and driver were also detained for questioning, although they were released later that day.
According to Lebanese media reports, the alleged bomb plot was discovered when a man identified only by his family name, Kfouri, became an informant for the police after Samaha allegedly attempted to recruit him for the operation. According to the reports, the most damning piece of evidence against Samaha is video footage shot in secret by Kfouri in which Samaha discusses the plot.
The video allegedly shows Samaha saying “this is what Bashar wants,” a reference to the Syrian president. The video also reportedly shows Samaha saying that he received the bombs from General Ali Mamlouk, the head of the Syrian General Security Directorate.
The targets were reported to be a series of iftars, the evening meal that breaks the daily fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan, that would have brought together Sunni notables in north Lebanon, an area of strong support for the Syrian opposition. One report claimed that the attacks would have coincided with a visit by the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Rai, to north Lebanon between Aug. 13 and 18.
Although Samaha is no longer a minister nor member of parliament, he still has considerable political influence because of his close personal ties to Mr. Assad. In July 2008, when a small Lebanese delegation headed by President Michel Suleiman paid a visit to Assad at his hotel during a state visit to Paris, its members were surprised to see Samaha, a Lebanese, included in the Syrian delegation. The incident underlined Samaha’s influence with Damascus and, therefore, the significance of his arrest by the Lebanese police yesterday.
Mr. Assad was reported to have personally contacted senior Lebanese officials yesterday to demand his release.
In the first response by the powerful Shiite group Hezbollah, an ally of Samaha, Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad denounced the detention and claimed that it was a set-up.
“We have long experienced such security fabrications; some judges are connected to suspicious security services,” he said yesterday.
Wafik Safa, Hezbollah’s top security chief, reportedly visited the police headquarters where he was shown some of the evidence implicating Samaha.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Midd...rested-for-planning-attacks-for-Syria-s-Assad
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The detention of a well-known Lebanese political figure, Michel Samaha, has underlined the explosive potential of the Syrian crisis and how it stretches into the heart of Lebanese politics.
Mr Samaha, a former information minister and member of parliament, was escorted from his home in the hills near Beirut by security forces early on Thursday morning.
He is known for his strong ties with the Syrian regime and with President Bashar al-Assad personally.
He is reported to have been detained by personnel from the Information [intelligence] Branch of General Security on instructions from the acting public prosecutor.
That security branch has the reputation of being loyal to the staunchly anti-Syrian "March 14th" faction, headed by Saad al-Hariri, former prime minister and son of the assassinated Sunni leader Rafiq al-Hariri, also a former prime minister.
That such a detention should take place under the current Lebanese government was seen as highly unusual.
The government excludes the March 14th coalition, is backed by Hezbollah, and includes Syria's allies in Lebanon.
Current Prime Minister Najib Miqati was quoted as saying that the detention was security-related but had nothing to do either with the locally-controversial international tribunal on the Hariri assassination, or the possibility of his being an Israeli agent.
It is believed that Mr Samaha is being questioned in connection with efforts to destabilise the country through bomb explosions and assassination attempts.
The anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea, whose now-dissolved Lebanese Forces used to be one of the main fighting factions in civil war days, was the target of an apparent would-be assassination in April which failed.
Several other anti-Syrian figures have said they have information that they are under threat of assassination on Syria's behalf.
Michel Samaha used to belong to the largely Maronite Christian Phalangist Party, of which Mr Geagea's Lebanese Forces were an offshoot.
But both the Phalangist Party and the Lebanese Forces are now firmly in the anti-Syrian camp, while Mr Samaha has retained his friendship and ties with the Syrian regime.
That means he has no immediate personal political power base, which is one reason why reaction to his detention has been relatively muted.
The implication of the reaction that there has been, is that there must be some kind of evidence that merits investigation.
Prime Minister Miqati, a Sunni regarded as generally sympathetic to Syria without being in thrall to it, was quoted as saying that he knew beforehand about the impending detention, and that the outcome of the investigation should be awaited.
'Political' step
The reaction of Hezbollah itself, a close ally of Damascus, was also low-key.
Given Mr Samaha's prominent profile, some observers believed it likely that the President, Michel Suleiman, who is also a Maronite Christian and is seen as a fairly neutral figure, would also have known about the impending move.
But there was considerable shock about the manner in which his detention was conducted, with security forces raiding his house at 07:30 local time (04:30 GMT) and dragging him from his bed.
He was taken away swiftly, but agents then spent several hours combing through his house.
His family, and pro-Syrian political allies, have charged that the step is blatantly political.
Much will clearly depend on what results the investigation by the public prosecutor's office produces.
Despite the fault-line running through Lebanese politics from across the Syrian border, and the obvious potential for serious trouble, the situation has so far remained relatively contained.
Above all, Hezbollah, by far the most powerful faction in the country, has shown no sign of spoiling for a fight in the domestic arena, as it watches its allies in the Syrian regime struggling for survival.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19200058
