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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Sayyed Discusses with Assad Means to 'Clean' Border Areas of 'Terrorists'

2014-04-28

[AnNahar] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... met Sunday with former Lebanese General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, who said talks tackled the "cleaning" of Syrian areas near Leb's border from "terrorists" to pave the ground for greater "coordination" with the Lebanese Army. A statement issued by Sayyed's office said the two-hour meeting in the morning touched on "the outcome of the Syrian army's military operations in terms of cleaning Syrian areas adjacent to the Lebanese border in Akkar and the Bekaa from terrorist groups." It said such a move would "allow the Lebanese Army to better control the border on the Lebanese side, in coordination with the Syrian authorities." "The developments in Syria are moving forward on two tracks. The first is the continued war on terror, which is represented by the armed and takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... groups, and the second is encouraging and speeding up national reconciliations," Sayyed said after the meeting. "Constitutional junctures, including the presidential vote, are a sovereign Syrian issue and they cannot be impeded by any incidents, similar to what happened in many countries witnessing difficult situations, such as Iraq, Tunisia, Libya, Afghanistan and others," Sayyed added. Syrian forces have recently seized control of most towns in the strategic Qalamoun region near the border with Leb.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Reports: Sayyed was in Samaha's Explosives-Laden Car

2012-08-15

[An Nahar] Security forces are trying to verify unconfirmed reports that former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed was in the car with former minister Michel Samaha during the smuggling of the explosives from Syria to Leb, MTV quoted a security source as saying on Tuesday. The source noted that "orders were given to let Samaha's car cross the border without any inspection." Syrian security chief "Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk asked his friends in Leb to capture or kill the witness in Samaha's case," the alleged source claimed. "What's important is Akkar. Focus your efforts on major rallies or Syrian opposition activists," MTV quoted Samaha as saying in one of the alleged audio recordings that security forces had managed to acquire. Government deputy Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Sami Sader on Saturday charged Samaha and Mamlouk with forming a group to commit crimes in Leb. The two were also charged with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures. Media leaks had said that Samaha was working at Syrian orders to prepare explosives to be used in attacks in northern Leb. Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... LBCI television quoted a top Internal Security Forces officer as saying that "Milad Kfouri, the witness in ex-minister Michel Samaha's case, is a patriotic man and he and his family are under our protection." The TV network also quoted a security source as saying that "the ISF are committed to providing monthly allowances to Kfouri and his family that do not exceed $10,000." "The honoring of informant Milad Kfouri will not only be limited to the commendation he received from (ISF) Director General Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, as he will also be decorated with a medal upon his return (to Leb) after the end of the case," the source added.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Sayyed Slams 'Sectarian Dictator' Jumblat for Double Standards, 'Crimes Against Humanity'

2011-10-21

[An Nahar] The former chief of the General Security Department, Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, described on Thursday Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... as a "sectarian dictator" who would have let the Lebanese suffer under his rule if he had controlled the country. Jumblat "is a small sectarian dictator in Leb" who has terrorized his Druze and non-Druze foes, has been involved in corruption and has ordered massacres and liquidations, Sayyed said in a statement. His accusations came after the Druze leader criticized the use of military force against Syrian demonstrators. In an interview with Hizbullah's al-Manar TV, the PSP chief also slammed the phenomenon of "Shabbiha," pro-government armed thugs blamed for the killing of protestors. The former general said God has had mercy on the Lebanese for preventing Jumblat from controlling the fate of the country. "Or else they would have suffered under him because of his mood, his sadism and the psychological disturbances that the Libyans haven't witnessed under Moammar Qadaffy ...... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring...... and the Russians under Joseph Stalin." Jumblat is the mixture of Qadaffy and Stalin but wears "a fake civilized mask," Sayyed said in his statement. He slammed the PSP chief for supporting revolutions in Arab countries that have no oil but for rejecting the uprisings where the regimes control huge amounts of oil resources. Turning to the issue of the funding of the Special Tribunal for Leb, Sayyed said Jumblat backs the STL and its funding but at the same time supports witness protection and false witnesses. Jumblat "is fooling no one but himself," the former general said, stressing that it is about time for him to realize that we are living in the era of "seriousness" and "important" personalities rather than "small" officials. "Had he been living outside Leb, he would have been sitting in an international court jail for his crimes against humanity during the Lebanese civil war," he said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Diplomat Stresses No One Can Interfere in Tribunal's Work

2011-01-15

Informed diplomatic sources in a European country expected the indictment to be issued by Special Tribunal for Leb Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare within days. The sources made the remark to As Safir newspaper on Friday. "Take that, Hizb'allah!" However, The infamous However... a Western diplomatic source stressed that all reports about the date of the release of the indictment are speculations. "We were told that it will be issued by the end of 2010 but it hasn't been issued so far." In a meeting with several journalists in New York, including An Nahar's correspondent, the diplomat said: "No one can interfere in the tribunal's work ... All Lebanese sides and parties involved with (the situation) in Leb should accept this fact." He advised the Lebanese to form the new government based on the fact that the court will continue to operate "no matter what happens" in the country. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported Friday that Bellemare asked pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen to set a date for a closed-door session between them to inquire him about the hearing that will be held on January 14 over Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed's bid for access to his docket.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Cassese Rejects Sayyed's Motions to Disqualify Judges Riachy and Chamseddine

2010-11-08

[An Nahar] The President of the Special Tribunal for Leb, Judge Antonio Cassese, issued two decisions Friday in which he rejected Major General Jamil Sayyed's motions to disqualify Judges Ralph Riachy and Afif Chamseddine from considering an appeal of his special application before the Tribunal. The Special Tribunal for Leb issued a statement saying that Cassese determined that Riachy and Chamseddine have no personal interest in or association with Sayyed's application that could affect or appear to affect their impartiality. In reaching these decisions Cassese referred to Rule 25 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Special Tribunal for Leb, to jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and to the jurisprudence of some national courts. The President first rejected Sayyed's argument that Riachy and Chamseddine were tainted by the very fact of their nomination to the Tribunal by the Government of Leb. The Judges were chosen for their "extensive judicial experience" and "high moral character, impartiality and integrity." They were appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society, with the assistance of an independent selection committee, from a list of candidates proposed by the Lebanese Supreme Council of the Judiciary. Furthermore, President Cassese emphasized that Sayyed's argument, if accepted, would mean no Lebanese judge could ever sit on any Chamber of the Tribunal. This would frustrate the mixed composition of the Tribunal's Chambers. In his motion for the disqualification of Judge Riachy, Sayyed had also argued that Judge Riachy should be disqualified because of his earlier participation in a decision of Leb's Court of Cassation. The President rejected this argument as well, stating that "Judge Riachy was not involved in any case concerning the detention of Mr. Sayyed", much less has he made any ruling regarding the issue currently before the Tribunal. Sayyed has petitioned the Tribunal for access to documents he believes will demonstrate that his nearly four year detention by the Lebanese authorities was based on false evidence. The Prosecutor of the Tribunal has appealed the Pre-Trial Judge's preliminary determination that the Tribunal has jurisdiction to consider Sayyed's application and that Sayyed has standing to bring his request before the Tribunal. Judge Riachy and Judge Chamseddine will participate in the consideration of the Prosecutor's interlocutory appeal, along with President Cassese, Judge David Baragwanath of New Zealand, and Judge Kjell Erik Bjِrnberg of Sweden.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hizbullah: Refusal to Hand Sayyed Documents on Investigation is Interference in Legal Course

2010-10-08

[An Nahar] Hizbullah's foreign relations chief Ammar Moussawi criticized on Thursday the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society' direct meddling in the functioning of the Special Tribunal for Leb. Hizbullah said in a statement after Moussawi's meeting with Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General Geir Pedersen that the U.N.'s refusal to grant Major General Jamil Sayyed documents on the international investigation is interference in the STL. It added that the U.N. has no right to exercise hegemony over the international tribunal or intervene in it. Furthermore, it noted that this latest development confirms "without a doubt" that the investigation and tribunal are being politicized to serve the interests of major international powers.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Sayyed: Arrests Could Include Hariri if False Witnesses Case Found Him to be Guilty

2010-10-06

[An Nahar] Former head of Leb's General Security Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed said arrest warrants could include Prime Minister Saad Hariri if he was found to be guilty in the false witnesses' case. "I'm convinced that the false witnesses' case is being steered by Hariri personally with his money and everything," Sayyed told Al-Jadid television. "During the investigation, police intelligence chief Wissam Hasan or State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza could testify that they brought the false witnesses to meet Hariri's desire," Sayyed said, "At this point, Hariri is likely to be included in the arrest warrants. "

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Sayyed Warns of 'Political, Security Unrest' if Hizbullah was Indicted

2010-10-06

[An Nahar] Former head of Leb's General Security Department Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed warned of "political and security unrest" in the event the Special Tribunal for Leb indicted Hizbullah in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri. "If the indictment accused Hizbullah, this will change Leb," Sayyed said in an interview with the French newspaper, Liberation, adding that "power today is based on national consensus." "The system will collapse from top to bottom and this would lead to political and security unrest, and everything is likely to happened," he added. Hizbullah expects the STL to issue an indictment in December that is likely to accuse Hizbullah "unjustly" of involvement in Hariri's assassination. Hizbullah has demanded trial for those involved in the issue of false witnesses. Syria on Sunday ordered the arrest of 33 people over false testimony given in the UN-backed probe into Hariri's murder. Sayyed said the top investigating judge in Damascus had issued arrest warrants "against judges, security officers, politicians, journalists and other Lebanese, Arab and foreign officials and individuals." Among those named in the warrants is Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who led the early stages of the UN investigation into Hariri's assassination in a massive bombing, Sayyed said in a weekend statement. The Lebanese defendants include police chief Gen. Ashraf Rifi, deputy Marwan Hamadeh, State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza and former justice minister Charles Rizk. Sayyed's office on Tuesday said the 33 arrest warrants do not include Judge Ralph Riachy and former Cabinet minister Bassem al-Sabaa. Sayyed has said arrest warrants could include Prime Minister Saad Hariri if he was found to be guilty in the false witnesses' case. "I'm convinced that the false witnesses' case is being steered by Hariri personally with his money and everything," Sayyed told Al-Jadid television. "During the investigation, police intelligence chief Wissam Hasan or State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza could testify that they brought the false witnesses to meet Hariri's desire," Sayyed said, "At this point, Hariri is likely to be included in the arrest warrants."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Aoun Says Christian Areas Would Be Spared Civil Strife if Geagea Avoided Resorting to Arms

2010-10-06

[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah on Tuesday noted that "Christian areas would be spared" the violence of a potential civil strife in the country if Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea avoided resorting to weapons. After the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, Aoun said that Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, former head of General Security Department, filed his lawsuit with the Syrian judiciary "as a result of the judicial vacuum in Leb." "If Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar had submitted his report on the false witnesses issue to the cabinet and declared that the Lebanese judiciary has exclusive jurisdiction to tackle the case, the Syrian judiciary would have taken no action," Aoun added. "With which court should Sayyed and his lover companions file a complaint if the Lebanese and the international judiciaries have washed their hands of the complaints over the investigation?" Aoun wondered. On the other hand, the FPM leader noted that "the bloc's ministers didn't receive Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar's report on the false witnesses issue during yesterday's (Monday's) cabinet session." "There are criminals in power, and the blame falls on the silent majority that is encouraging crime, as well as on the civil society and the media," Aoun decried. Asked about the uproar about Iran's diminutive President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad's upcoming visit to Leb, Aoun said: "Insolence itself is when domestic objections are voiced over Ahmadinejad's visit, while the foreign objections are not surprising." Aoun rejected the accusations that the opposition was perpetrating a "coup", noting that "the State has been turned upside down since 2005, and the opposition is now seeking to rebuild it according to laws and regulations." "Their State has been acting contrary to the norms since a while: it doesn't respect the other (opinion); it is ridiculing our security and even working to incite civil strife through its apparatuses," Aoun added. On a separate note, the FPM leader revealed that he was preparing lawsuits against MP Elie Marouni over remarks that FPM members have been stockpiling weapons, as well as against ex-MP Antoine Andraous "who talked about Iranian weapons in the possession of a number of FPM partisans" in the Mount Leb town of al-Kahaleh.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Rifi: Interpol Won't Act on Syria's Arrest Warrants

2010-10-05

[An Nahar] Police chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi on Monday said Interpol would not execute arrest warrants ordered by Syria against 33 people, including Lebanese individuals, because they are politically motivated. He pointed out that in the past, Syria had issued an arrest warrant against Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat that Interpol had ignored to because it had political aims. The warrants, issued on Sunday, were over false testimony given in the U.N.-backed probe into the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri. Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, former head of Leb's General Security Department, said the top investigating judge in Damascus had issued arrest warrants "against judges, security officers, politicians, journalists and other Lebanese, Arab and foreign officials and individuals."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Sayyed: Syrian Judiciary Has Issued 33 Arrest Warrants in Absentia in False Witnesses Case

2010-10-05

[An Nahar] Former head of General Security Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed has been informed by his lawyer in Syria that "the first investigating judge in Damascus has issued 33 arrest warrants in absentia in the false witnesses case for judges, officers, politicians, journalists and individuals of Lebanese, Arab and foreign nationalities," Sayyed's press office announced Sunday. Detlev Mehlis, former head of the U.N. commission investigating ex-PM Rafik Hariri's murder, and his aide Gerhard Lehmann are among the 33 people named by the Syrian warrants, Sayyed's press office noted. Leb's state-run National News Agency reported that the individuals whom arrest warrants have been issued for are: MP Marwan Hamade, ex-minister Charles Rizk; ex-MPs Bassem Sabaa and Elias Atallah; State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza; Judges Elias Eid and Saqr Saqr; Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi; Head of ISF's Intelligence Bureau Col. Wissam al-Hasan; Premier Saad Hariri's advisor Hani Hammoud; Col. Hussam al-Tannoukhi; Lt. Col. Samir Shehadeh; ambassador Johnny Abdou; former Syrian vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam; retired Col. Mohammed Farshoukh; Adnan al-Baba; Khaled Hammoud; journalists Hasan Sabra, Fares Khashan, Nuhad al-Ghaderi (Syrian), Abdul Salam Moussa, Ayman Sharrouf, Omar Harqous, Ahmed Jarallah (Kuwaiti), Zahra Badran, Nadim al-Munla, Hamid al-Gheriafi; former head of the U.N. commission investigating ex-PM Rafik Hariri's murder, Detlev Mehlis, and his aide Gerhard Lehmann; and witnesses Ibrahim Michel Jarjoura, Akram Shakib Murad, Mohammed Zuheir Siddiq and Abdul Baset Bani Audeh. On September 25, the Lebanese daily Ad Diyar reported that the Syrian judiciary was waiting for the appropriate time to send the warrants to its Lebanese counterpart. "If the Lebanese judiciary does not comply with the Syrian demand, then Syria will take the appropriate measures to have Interpol issue arrest warrants for those individuals," the newspaper added. Sayyed has accused international powers of standing behind claims that Hizbullah murdered ex-PM Rafik Hariri. "The game is bigger than (Premier) Saad Hariri. It is related to international schemes, starting from the new Middle East, which used Rafik Hariri's blood to strike Syria," Sayyed said in remarks published Sunday by the Syrian daily al-Watan. "But today, after failure of the plot, they moved to accuse the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... seeking a new scheme based on creating a Sunni-Shiite strife to divert attention from the struggle against the Israeli enemy and transfer this conflict to one between Arabs and Mohammedans themselves instead of having Israel as their common enemy. " Sayyed said "some" surrounding Hariri from Leb and "a large portion" from outside the country convinced the prime minister that Syria and its allies in Leb are the ones who killed his father. "This is why he (Hariri) allowed, contributed to, turned a blind eye and supported a political, media, judicial and security structure of his advisers who chose Syrian false witnesses picked from Lebanese prisons, and provided them with temptations, particularly Zuhair Siddiq, Hussam Hussam and others, to accuse Syria and the four Lebanese officers (Sayyed one of them)," said the former detainee who was jailed for nearly four years in Leb for alleged involvement in Hariri's killing. "But soon after our release and the fall of the hypothesis that Syria is behind the killing, they shifted their accusation within a month from Syria to Hizbullah, and this is no coincidence, of course, where police intelligence under Col. Wissam al-Hasan began arresting Israeli spy networks immediately after the release of the four generals in April 2009." Sayyed said the Government of national unity agreed to finance the Special Tribunal for Leb "because we thought we were paying for justice and truth, not for an international tribunal looking for politics." "But we found out four years later that the international law used the money to hit Syria and a portion of Lebanese through the false witnesses," he said. Describing Druze leader Walid Jumblat as "unstable," Sayyed said he has no faith in the Progressive Socialist Party chief. "I don't believe everything Walid Jumblat says, whether he is with us or against us, because he changes his positions from one moment to another," Sayyed said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Tension between Hariri, Hezbollah reaches all-time high

2010-10-04

[Arab News] At least 15 four-wheel drive vehicles, license plates covered, stormed Beirut's International Rafik Al-Hariri airport on Saturday. Out of the vehicles jumped armed Hezbullies members and other supporters of a Lebanese ex-security official, who had just arrived on a flight from Paris. The Hezbullies gunnies surrounded Gen. (ret.) Jamil Sayyed as he spoke to press at the airport, escorting him home at the end of the event. Sayyed, the former head of Leb's General Security, was jugged in 2005 and held in jail for nearly four years without charge for involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "The Beirut airport was turned into one of Hezbullies's security quarters," an anonymous member of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri March 14 Alliance told the Arab daily Sharq Al-Awsat. "This dangerously revealed airport security." "Seeing the airport incident, it is clear that Hezbullies has decided to attack the regime," Ghazi Youssef, a Parliament member in Hariri's Al-Mustaqbal (Movement of the Future) bloc told The Media Line. "Hezbullies believes this is part of the democratic game, but what was done was a breach of the law. There are limits to freedom of expression. Mohammad Shatah, a former Lebanese minister, was less diplomatic. "The airport scene was surreal. Lebanese could have never seen such a sight in any other country in the world." But clearly more than airport security is now at stake in Leb. Before leaving for Paris on Sept. 12, Sayyed called Prime Minster Hariri a liar and urged the Lebanese to topple his government. Upon his return to Beirut, again Sayyed did not mince his words. This time, he attacked State Prosecutor Said Mirza, who called him in for questioning following his threatening statements. "Mirza is supposed to be a public prosecutor - i.e. neutral - but considering these lawsuits, he became my personal adversary," Leb's Daily Star quoted Sayyed as saying. The issue of "false witnesses" has become a main point of contention for Sayyed and his supporters in Hezbullies. The term refers to Lebanese legal and security officials who testified before the Special Tribunal for Leb, which is investigating the assassination of Hariri. Prime Minister Hariri recently rescinded his accusation of Syria as primarily responsible for his father's assassination in an interview with the Sharq Al-Awsat, acknowledging the existence of false witnesses. However, The infamous However... on Monday, Hariri reiterated his support for the Special Tribunal for Leb, defying Hezbullies's demand that Leb officially accuse Israel of the murder. Professor Eugène Sensenig-Dabbous, chairman of the Political Science department at Leb's Notre-Dame University, said that Hariri's overture toward Syria was implicitly implicating Hezbullies. "If Syria isn't involved in the assassination, who is?" he rhetorically asked in an interview with The Media Line. "It's looking more and more like Hezbullies was involved in the assassinations that took place in 2005." Sensenig-Dabbous predicted a re-alignment of powers, with Hariri's March 14 Alliance drawing closer to Syria, leaving Hezbullies isolated with Iran. "I don't know if a partnership with Michel Aoun, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah's Free Patriotic Movement and Iran will be enough for Hezbullies," Sensenig-Dabbous said. Samir Al-Sa'adawi, a Beirut-based journalist at the Arab daily Al-Hayyat, said that tensions in Leb would likely intensify rather than calm down. "The situation is tense, and is only escalating," he told The Media Line. "I don't know if the regional players, Syria and Saudi Arabia, can stop the escalation - if not, we're facing more trouble."

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