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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon indicts 56 Islamists accusing them of terrorism

2008-02-19

The first military examining magistrate Rashid Mezher issued indictments against 56 individuals belonging to Fatah al-Islam , Al Qaeda and Usbat al-Ansar, a Salafist jihadist organization. They were accused of forming terrorist gangs for the purpose of committing crimes against people and undermining the authority of the Lebanese state. They were accused of forming terrorist gangs for the purpose of committing crimes against people and undermining the authority of the Lebanese state and for possessing illegal arms and explosive and carrying out terrorist acts and incitements to killing . The nationalities of the accused include Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians , Jordanians and Saudi Arabians . 9 were sentenced in absentia , 18 were detained by the authorities and the rest are of unknown identity. At least 446 people, including 168 soldiers and 226 Fatah al Islam militants, had been killed in the fighting between the army and the Islamist militants during the 105-day siege of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp. Between 400 and 500 soldiers had been wounded and more than 215 militants had been captured.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Fatah al-Islam hard boy sings

2007-07-20

An alleged leader of the Fatah al-Islam terrorist network has testified to interrogators that the group is linked to the head of Syria's intelligence apparatus Maj. Gen. Assef Shawkat, the brother-in-law of President Bashar Assad. Ahmed Merie, a Lebanese citizen arrested late in May at a Beirut hotel, also testified to military examining magistrate Rashid Mezher that Four members of Fatah al-Islam gunned down legislator Pierre Gemayel on Nov. 21 in east Beirut's suburb of Jdaideh. four members of Fatah al-Islam gunned down legislator Pierre Gemayel on Nov. 21 in east Beirut's suburb of Jdaideh, according to the daily al-Moustaqbal. Another pan Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat, published a similar report. The report said Merie testified to Mezher during interrogation that he was the "liaison officer" between Fatah al-Islam's leader Shaker Abssi and Shawkat . Shawkat, according to Merie's alleged testimony, provided Fatah al-Islam with a "highly qualified explosives expert who trained members of the group on bomb making." Shawkat also provided the group with "significant support," the nature of which was not reported. Merie was also quoted as telling Mezher that he worked out the explosives expert's safe exit from the Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon and back to Syria before the clashes broke out between the terrorists and the Lebanese Army on May 20. The newspaper report quoted unidentified judicial sources as saying Merie identified four members of the Fatah al-Islam network who carried out the Gemayel murder. The sources, however, refused to disclose names of the suspects. Nevertheless, the newspaper said the so-called Majd el-Dine Abboud, who also goes by the code name of Abu Yezen, Such Jihadists included Fatah al-Islam financial backer, a Saudi named Abdul Rahman al-Yahya, who goes by the code name of Abu Talha. was one of the suspects in the Gemayel murder. He was killed in confrontations with the Lebanese Army. It couldn't be determined whether Abboud was a Syrian or Palestinian citizen, the report noted. Merie and his brother, Mohammed, also testified in separate sessions that Fatah al-Islam had planned to carry out bomb and booby-trapped car attacks against several targets in Lebanon, including two Beirut hotels frequented by personnel of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in addition to some embassies and U.N. offices, the report added. It said Merie testified to playing a role in smuggling Iraqi, Tunisian and Saudi "jihadists" to Lebanon via Syria. Such Jihadists included Fatah al-Islam's financial backer, a Saudi named Abdul Rahman al-Yahya, who goes by the code name of Abu Talha. Merie, according to the report, rented an apartment for Yahya in the northern city of Tripoli and "received from him lots of money used to finance members of the group and for the purchase of a highly sophisticated machine used to forge passports which was confiscated later at one of the squad's apartments in Tripoli." Merie, the report added, moved to the Akkar province after outbreak of clashes at Nahr al-Bared and stayed for a couple of days with a relative. He then moved to the eastern Bekaa valley before settling at the hotel in Beirut's district of Ashrafiyeh where he was busted by police and arrested. "He maintained contact throughout that period with Abssi and his gang," the report concluded.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Leb Army takes over the new part of Nahr al-Bared completely

2007-06-21

A Lebanese army officer said Wednesday the military was now in full control of the new part of Nahr al-Bared where the terrorists were dug in. "All of the buildings in the new part of Nahr al-Bared where the terrorists were dug in have been taken, and one could say fighting has stopped in this area," an army officer told reporters. Lebanese troops earlier on Wednesday were clearing out the remaining pockets of resistance in Nahr al-Bared, Future TV said. It said the army’s artillery continued shelling the southern front, cornering diehard militants in what has been known as the "old camp," a small segment on the southern tip of Nahr al-Bared. The army has reported that many criminals on Lebanon's most wanted lists are helping the terrorists. The Lebanese army has been making steady gains on the ground, further squeezing Fatah al-Islam militants in a small portion of the battered Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared as mediators on Wednesday reportedly hinted at a possible cease-fire deal with the militants. But the army is insisting that regardless of any cease fire agreement the Fatah al-Islam terrorists have to surrender to the army. This decision according to army is "final and irreversible". Prime Minister Fouad Siniora promised the militants a fair trial. Two Lebanese soldiers became the latest victims of the battle around Nahr el-Bared near the northern city of Tripoli that began on May 20. As the fighting with Fatah al-Islam continued on Wednesday, mediators hinted at a possible cease-fire deal with the militants that included the disarmament of the al-Qaida-inspired militants. According to a Palestinian Muslim cleric who has been acting as mediator, the deal would include a cease-fire, to be followed by the militants' disarmament. The cleric, Sheik Mohammed Haj, told The Associated Press news agency he had a "very positive" meeting with Fatah al-Islam leaders inside the camp but would not give details before a scheduled meeting with the army command on Wednesday. He earlier told the official National News Agency (NNA) that the militants agreed to conditions of his Palestinian Scholars Association. The cleric did not offer more details, but the private New TV station said the conditions also include return of refugees, takeover of the camp by other Palestinian factions and Fatah al-Islam's dissolution. Meanwhile, Abu Imad Rifai, a representative of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, told Al-Manar television that the progress was made after Fatah al-Islam "opened the doors for a solution" and accepted to "dissolve." National News Agency said three Lebanese helicopters fired 12 rockets at suspected Fatah al-Islam positions in the camp late Tuesday. Meanwhile, Lebanon's top military magistrate Rashid Mezher issued formal arrest warrants for nine suspected militants who were detained earlier this month in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley town of Bar Elias, NNA reported. The agency did not say to which group the nine belonged but said they comprise six Lebanese, two Syrians and a Saudi. The battle to drive the terrorists out has led to significant damage to parts of the camp, once home to some 31,000 Palestinian refugees. Only about 5,000 remain inside, after most residents fled to the nearby Beddawi refugee camp. An amateur video obtained by Associated Press Television News on Tuesday showed major destruction in largely deserted residential neighborhoods. Debris from collapsed walls and balconies littered the narrow alleys, covered with ripped electricity wires. Shells and shrapnel holes peppered some buildings. A burnt car and a parked pickup truck with a collapsed wall resting on it lay on one deserted street.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Poirot quits the International Criminal Court

2007-06-17

Acting Minister of Foreign affairs Tarek Mitri , has reported that Belgian Prosecutor Serge Brammertz has resigned from his post at the International Criminal Court to focus on the UN investigation of the murder of Lebanon's former Prime Minster Rafik Hariri . Brammertz, inspected on Friday the crime scene where MP Walid Eido was killed. Brammertz's visit to the site was "a preliminary measure before taking future steps," a security report said on Friday. Brammertz, along with a number of investigators and experts, was accompanied by Military Prosecutor Jean Fahd and Military Investigative Magistrate Rashid Mezher. Brammertz also inspected the damage to nearby buildings and vehicles, the report said. The initiative of the Belgian prosecutor came in response to prime Minister Fouad Siniora's appeal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to add Eido's murder to the UN investigation. Ban then asked Brammertz to offer the Lebanese authorities the necessary assistance, a security source said "Brammertz and State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza are expected to announce soon the steps to be taken by the Lebanese judiciary and the international probe," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. Brammertz called for "keeping a close watch" over the crime scene in Manara area until his team ended its inspection, the source added. Another security source said a Dutch team of explosives experts is expected to arrive in Beirut "soon" to inspect the crime scene. "The team already visited Lebanon following Hariri's assassination," said the source, also speaking on condition of anonymity. Mezher continued to interrogate witnesses Friday, but no one has been arrested yet in connection with the explosion, judicial reports said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Trial begins in Lebanon for German bomb plot

2007-04-12

A Beirut court on Wednesday adjourned for one week the trial of four Lebanese men accused of participating in a failed train bombing in Germany, court officials said. Meanwhile, Lebanon's top military magistrate Rashid Mezher issued formal arrest warrants Wednesday for 14 people suspected of belonging to al-Qaida. The four train bombing suspects appeared before Judge Michel Abu Arraj for just 10 minutes before the hearing was adjourned until April 18 at the request of the suspects' defense attorney. Court officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the attorney asked to move the trial from Beirut to northern Lebanon, arguing that the suspects' families couldn't afford transportation to Beirut for the trial. Lebanese authorities arrested the suspects on charges of planting crude bombs on two trains at the Cologne station on July 31. The bombs, found later in the day on trains at the Koblenz and Dortmund stations, failed to explode because of faulty detonators. German surveillance cameras are said to have filmed the suspects as they wheeled suitcases into the station. The suspects include Jihad Hamad, Ayman Hawa, Khalil al-Boubou and Khaled Khair-Eddin el-Hajdib, whose brother Youssef is under arrest in Germany in connection with the case. Last month, Hamad, 19, confessed to planting one of the bombs. During preliminary interrogation by Judge Abu Arraj, Hamad said he was trying to avenge the publication of 12 cartoons that satirized the Prophet Muhammad. Hamad, who is from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, told the judge that his aim was not to kill, but to defend Islam, according to court officials. The head of Germany's Federal Crime Office, Joerg Ziercke, has said that the train-bomb suspects were also motivated by the June 7 killing of the former leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a U.S. airstrike. Germany wants to extradite the suspects, but there is no extradition treaty between Germany and Lebanon. Lebanon has decided to try the suspects in its courts and defer consideration of extradition until later. Also on Wednesday, arrest warrants were issued for 14 suspected al-Qaida members — nine Lebanese, a Saudi, a Syrian and a Palestinian held in police custody for more than a month, and two Lebanese at large — accused of carrying out terrorist acts, attacking people and weakening state authority, court officials said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Interrogation with "Fath Al-Islam" suspects in Lebanon

2007-03-15

(KUNA) -- Lebanon's Chief Military Investigating Magistrate Rashid Mezher has started questioning suspects of the Fath Al-Islam network the government said was involved in blowing up two buses in northern Lebanon last month, sources told KUNA on Wednesday. They added that Magistrate Mezher would issue bills of charges for the four suspects. Meanwhile, the Director of Internal Security Ashraf Refi said that the network had been discovered five days before and that its elements were later arrested in various parts of the country. "The network was discovered when enough intelligence was gathered. We do not control the timing, but we act according to the security information we get starting with the first clue, then confessions, until evidence is verified. Then, findings are revealed to the public, substantiated by adequate documents." The Lebanese Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa said yesterday that four Syrian nationals from Fath Al-Islam network had been arrested and owned up to blasting two buses in the village of Ein Alak on February 13 which killed three people and injured 20 others.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Leb: Investigations focus on vehicles used in bombing

2005-12-20

Chief Military Investigating Magistrate Rashid Mezher continued investigations Thursday into the assassination of MP Gebran Tueni, focusing on who owned the Renault 19 that carried the bomb. Don't forget the BMW they used as the getaway car... The Lebanese Military Judiciary is still detaining the importer of the car, the owner of the car agency that sold the car and the person who delivered the car to its current buyer. It is believed these people will remain in custody until the identity of the buyer is known. The guy that delivered the car will be the only one of any value. The others are just a couple of sad sacks, I'd guess... On Thursday, Mezher pleaded for legal assistance from the different security institutions in the country, and asked the Range Rover Company for information about Tueni's vehicle. Mezher also questioned several people, including several resembling the sketch of the person believed to have planted the bomb. Mezher appointed technical experts to examine the remains of Tueni's Range Rover and to analyze samples to verify the type of the bomb used and where it came from. According to judicial authorities, the bomb was "sophisticated" and was detonated in a similar fashion to the bomb in the assassination attempt on Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade as well as other assassinations. I'd expect they all came out of the same bomb factory.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

ISF issues sketch of suspect in car bombing

2005-12-20

With investigations into the assassination of MP and journalist Gebran Tueni into their fourth day, the Directorate General of the Internal Security Forces has distributed a sketch of a suspect believed to have detonated the booby-trapped car with a remote control when Tueni's convoy drove by. According to information from witnesses, in a statement released on Wednesday from the ISF, the suspect is believed to be in his 30s, tall, with a strong physical structure, a fair complexion, and thin black hair. First Military Investigating Magistrate Rashid Mezher held a security meeting on Wednesday with representatives of the commanders of security apparatuses such as the Lebanese Army, State Security, the Surete Generale and the ISF. Mezher and the security officials discussed the information and results reached by investigations 48 hours after of the assassination. According to a statement, they now have leads that could help reveal the perpetrators. That'll be a first. Judicial sources said the information gathered until now is "very important." However, what is needed is proof to be compared to some of the facts in order for the perpetrators to be discovered and arrested. I'd be even more important if they laid hands on a perp or two... Mezher had given new orders on Wednesday to ISF units requesting specific information within the next 48 hours. The sketch of the suspect will be distributed to the media, and citizens will be asked to identify the person and report his whereabouts in case he is found. Citizens were reassured that their identity will be kept confidential by virtue of law.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Video recording may have captured possible killers of MP Tueini

2005-12-19

A video recording showing some people, implicated in last week's murder of Lebanese MP Gibran Tueni is now available with local authorities, a judiciary source said Monday. Let's see if the Leb Master Detectives can do anything with it... The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told KUNA that Chief Investigating Magistrate into the murder Rashid Mezher now possesses a video recording of some of the perpetrators. "The recording was made by an outside camera in one of the factories across the road from the site of the car bomb explosion, which caused the accident and killed the MP and journalist," the source said. I don't think I'd call it an accident, though. Accidents don't happen on purpose. The booby-trapped car had preceded by five minutes the convoy and was met by a BMW car. Two men left the booby-trapped car and sped away from the scene in the waiting BMW car, the source said. It added that the film showing all this would now be sent to a European country, where the film would be better developed in order to reach a clear picture of the persons involved in the murder, the source said. It added that such a film constituted an important evidence in the hands of the authorities to lead them to the mastermind of this crime and probably others like it. It's probably a blurry, grainy, ultra-slow-play surveillance tape shot through a grimy lens, but at least they know they're looking for a BMW, light or dark in color. I'd guess one was abandoned shortly after the boom, though it might yield fingerprints. Two men, so it wasn't a single lone psycho. It's not a Perry Mason moment, but they can do something with it if they want.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Investigators on trail of booby-trapped Renault

2005-12-15

I don't imagine anything's going to come of this. Nothing's come from the previous dozen deaders. Investigators have discovered that the booby-trapped Renault detonated by remote control in the assassination of MP and journalist Gebran Tueni entered Lebanon through the port of Tripoli last March, according to sources close to the investigation. The sources said the white, early 1990s model 19 Renault, which was approved by Lebanese customs upon entry, was unregistered and had been sold several times since arriving in the country. So who was the latest purchaser? They added that Investigating Magistrate Rashid Mezher Tuesday interrogated the importer of the car, the owner of the agency from which it was sold and the man who delivered the car to the initial buyer. All three will be held for interrogation until the identity of the buyer is identified. That would appear to be the key person to talk to, I'd guess. You can talk to the guy who sold me my car for ten years and there's not a lot he could tell you about me, if he remembers me at all... On Monday police interrogated a former owner of the car, but it was confirmed that he had recently sold it. To whom? The sources said investigations have shown the assassination was "very carefully" planned and that Tueni was under surveillance from the moment he landed at the airport in Beirut Sunday. I'd guess he was under surveillance before he got on the plane in Gay Paree... It is also believed the car had been parked at the bomb scene a mere two hours before the explosives were detonated at 9 a.m. The sources further explained that the 40 kilograms of dynamite used in the blast had been placed in the shape of a cone facing the street so as to increase the destructive force of the explosion that killed Tueni and two others and wounded 30 others. Mezher has interrogated 24 individuals in the investigation, most of whom were foreign employees working near the bomb site, in addition to four factory owners. The magistrate also received a report of the damages caused by the blast, which included 44 vehicles, in addition to material damage suffered by nearby buildings, shops and factories.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

One Dies, 28 Hurt in New Lebanon Bombing

2005-09-18

One person was killed and 28 wounded in a bombing in a Christian section of Beirut late Friday, the latest in a string of blasts to hit the Lebanese capital this year, police said. Police identified the dead man as an elderly Lebanese of Armenian origin and said three of the wounded remained in hospital yesterday. The blast struck just before midnight (2100 GMT) in a small side street in the Jeitawi quarter of east Beirut. Investigating magistrate Rashid Mezher said a resident saw two young men place two suitcases between two parked cars before running off. Her son, who ran across the alley to warn customers at a nearby cafe, was wounded in the blast, judicial sources said. The force of the blast, estimated at some 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of TNT equivalent, collapsed the roof of the cafe and damaged the facade of a neighboring office block. It was the 12th bomb attack in Lebanon since the February assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a massive car bombing on the Beirut seafront in which 20 other people also died. Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, in New York for the UN General Assembly, said he had no doubt that there was a single hand behind the bombings. “They’re trying to divert attention and point the finger elsewhere,” he told Lebanese media, without actually saying who he meant. I don't know who in Damascus he might be talking about. But if I was the Leb security forces, I'd be finding those two fellows who left their little package and having a long and painful discussion with them.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Authorities request Swiss help in murder probe

2005-02-18

The Lebanese judiciary announced Wednesday it was requesting the assistance of Swiss experts to probe the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, judicial sources said. Military Tribunal chief investigating magistrate Rashid Mezher is seeking the help of experts specialized in explosives and DNA, upon the request of Lebanon's military prosecutor Jean Fahd. Mezher said the expenses of the foreign team would be carried by the Lebanese government, adding that the experts would start their mission only after being sworn in by the Military Tribunal. The announcement came after repeated calls from the French government, subsequently backed by the United States, for an international investigation into Hariri's murder. The calls were rebuffed by Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh Tuesday, although the minister had not ruled out seeking assistance from experts from a neutral country. But speaking earlier, president Lahoud conceded he was considering allowing international help "if Lebanon needed it".

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