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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Gemayel says opposition to confront 'Hezbollah's coup'

2023-09-06

[An Nahar] Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel has anew rejected Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... ’s call for dialogue and said the opposition will confront what he called "Hezbollah’s coup." "We are the advocates of dialogue and we’re the ones who are adhering to Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... and partnership the most. The moment in which Hezbollah decides to reconsiders its approach we will be ready for dialogue and for finding the solutions that relieve everyone so that we live together, but we are not ready to be second-class citizens," Gemayel said in an interview on al-Jadeed TV. "We will use institutions, the media, our relations inside and outside the country and the peaceful and popular means to stop the coup process, and this is what Hezbollah will see, because we have moved from the attempt to find solutions to confronting a coup and we are not in a confrontation phase," Gemayel added. As for Berri’s dialogue call, Gemayel told the Speaker: "You can’t be the manager of a candidate’s campaign and still call for dialogue. You have a direct interest in this issue and this is a joke." "Berri will only open parliament for the election of Hezbollah’s ally as president ... Should I go to dialogue like a sheep going to slaughter?" Gemayel wondered. The Kataeb chief also reiterated that his camp will "block elections" to prevent Hezbollah from "imposing its candidate." "As long as there is an armed militia, the problem will remain present. If they elect their president he will be a puppet and if we elect our president they will kill him," Gemayel charged. Accordingly, he said that efforts are underway to form "a front that rejects that we be governed by a coup party" or to be "second-class citizens." As for Hezbollah’s candidate Suleiman Franjieh, Gemayel said: "I respect Franjieh and there is no personal problem with him. The problems is in his choices and in being imposed by Hezbollah." "Hezbollah wants to be a new Rustom Ghazali in Lebanon through making presidents and governments," Gemayel lamented, referring to a Syrian intelligence officer who had major sway over Lebanon’s politics during Syria’s military presence in Lebanon.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Powerful former Syrian army general dies in hospital

2015-04-25

A Syrian activist and several Lebanese TV stations are reporting that powerful former Syrian army general Rostom Ghazali has died in a hospital in the capital Damascus. Sepsis or sucking chest wound? Ghazali, in his early 60s, was the most powerful man in Lebanon during Syria’s long occupation of that country, and is suspected of involvement in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. And now he's dead. Excellent! There was no official government comment and the circumstances of his death remain unclear. Director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdurrahman said Ghazali died nearly two months after he was admitted with a head injury. Reports at the time said he was beaten by the bodyguards of another Syrian general. Perhaps he said something and there was a "trigger warning"... Top Syrian security official Rustom Ghazali died of his wounds, pro-Bashar al-Assad al-Mayadeen satellite channel reported on Friday. But that statement neither confirms nor denies, does it??

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria: Rustom Ghazali Named Chief of Political Security

2012-07-25

[An Nahar] Syria has named General Ali Mamlouk as the new head of its national security office and General Rustom Ghazali as the new chief of political security, in a shakeup of the security services after a bombing killed four top regime figures last week, a security source told Agence La Belle France Presse on Tuesday. "General Ali Mamlouk, who was head of state security, is becoming the head of the bureau of national security, with the rank of minister, overseeing the entire security apparatus," the source said. "He will report directly to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... ," the source added. General Rustom Ghazali, the former director of military security in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... , has been named chief of political security, the source said, replacing Deeb Zaytoun, who will take over Mamlouk's former post as head of state security. The shake-up follows a July 18 attack, claimed by rebel forces battling Assad's regime, which targeted the government's security leadership. The attack killed Defense Minister Daoud Rajha, Assad's brother-in-law Assad Shawkat, national security chief Hisham Ikhtiyar and Hassan Turkmani, head of the crisis cell set up to tackle the uprising against the regime. "Until now, the security services were spread among different ministers: the military intelligence and those of the army and the air force under the minister of defense, the political intelligence under the interior ministry and the state security with the presidency," the source said. "A process of centralization was underway, but it was of course accelerated by the attack." Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez Assad, created multiple intelligence services whose rivalry made it more difficult for any forces to engage in a coup. In the wake of the uprising, President Assad has forced his regime to consolidate those multiple services, in a bid to protect the increasingly embattled government.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Pro-Syrian Lebanese shrugs off Bush travel ban

2007-07-01

A pro-Syrian Lebanese politician on Saturday shrugged off a US travel ban, referring to it sarcastically as a “precious gift” that showed the Lebanese government was a tool in Washington’s hand. President George W Bush on Friday banned 10 Syrian officials and Lebanese politicians, whom Washington accuses of undermining Prime Minister Fouad al-Siniora, from entering the United States. The list of Syrian officials includes Assef Shawkat, director of military intelligence and brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad, Hisham Ikhtiyar, an Assad adviser, Brigadier General Rustom Ghazali, former head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon, and his assistant Brigadier General Jama’a Jama’a. The list includes six pro-Syrian Lebanese politicians — five former cabinet ministers and a former member of parliament. Lebanese ex-MP Nasser Qandil, one of the six, said he would send a cable to Bush thanking him for his decision “which he sees as a precious gift that shows the true nature of the political conflict in Lebanon”. “The Lebanese are confronting the American policies and the (Lebanese) government is nothing but a tool of the American plan,” Qandil’s office said in a statement. Qandil said the ban also exposed Bush’s calls for promoting freedom of speech and democracy as “fraudulent”. He said he was considering legal steps against the US president. The US move followed repeated calls for Damascus to stop fomenting instability in Lebanon, where Washington is trying to shore up the elected government of the embattled Siniora. The Lebanese opposition, led by the pro-Syrian Hezbollah group, has been demanding a national unity government since all its ministers quit Siniora’s cabinet nearly eight months ago. Siniora, backed by the United States, France and Saudi Arabia, has refused the opposition demand, which ultimately gives Syria’s allies veto power in his government.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Bush banned entry to US for Syrians with Lebanon links

2007-06-30

President George W. Bush on Friday banned entry to the United States by Syrian and Lebanese officials whom Washington accuses of undermining the Lebanese government, the White House said. The list of Syrian officials the United States considers to have meddled in Lebanon includes Assef Shawkat, Syria's director of military intelligence ( brother-in-law of president Bashar el-Assad), Hisham Ikhtiyar, adviser to President Assad and the former head of Syria's security apparatus in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazali , Juma'a Juma'a, top Syrian military intelligence official, according to information provided by the White House. The list of the Lebanese who are banned entry includes the four former Lebanese ministers - Abdel-Rahim Mrad, Assad Hardan, Assem Qanso and Michel Samaha, Wiam Wahhab and former MP Nasser Qandil The U.S. move followed repeated calls by Washington for Damascus to stop fomenting instability in Lebanon.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

UN wants to question more Syrians in Hariri probe

2005-12-11

A U.N. inquiry into the murder of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri will summon more Syrian witnesses in the next few days, its chief investigator Detlev Mehlis was quoted on Saturday as saying. In an interview published in Lebanon's al-Mustaqbal newspaper, which was owned by the murdered ex-premier, Mehlis said he would ask Syria in the next few days if U.N. investigators could question new Syrian witnesses in Vienna, but did not identify them. Probably to keep them from having auto accidents. His questioning of the original five would have produced further names, whether for corroboration of their stories or introducing them as new suspects or persons of interest. Nothing to really get excited about yet — though Mehlis seems an uncommonly good investigator. International investigators questioned five Syrian officials in the Austrian capital this week in connection with the Feb. 14 truck bomb that killed Hariri and 22 other people in Beirut. Neither Syria nor the United Nations has identified the five but diplomatic sources say they included senior Syrian security officials, including Lieutenant-General Rustom Ghazali, Syria's former intelligence chief in Lebanon, and his aide Jamae Jamae. Also known as Jamma Jamma... Mehlis said the Vienna interviews had been more fruitful than a series of earlier interrogation sessions in Damascus. "The questioning was extensive and we received interesting information," the Arabic-language daily quoted him as saying. Not having keepers present at the questioning would seem to have benefits. Some excellent booze and some knockout blonde hookers might also have proven useful... The German prosecutor did not say whether he would ask Damascus to detain any Syrian officials as a result of the questioning. In an interim report in October, Mehlis implicated senior Syrian security officials and their Lebanese allies in the murder and requested more cooperation from Damascus. Mehlis also told the Arabic newspaper al-Hayat in comments published on Saturday that he would ask a Syrian witness who withdrew his testimony to clarify his statement to investigators. Hosam Taher Hosam accused Lebanese officials on Syrian state television last month of threats, bribery and torture to induce him to testify falsely against Syria, saying the inquiry's initial findings rested largely on his lies. It's fairly obvious that he was the Syrian attempt to insert a monkey wrench into the investigation. Mehlis doesn't seem to be worried about him... Al-Hayat quoted Mehlis as saying Hosam's accusations did not undermine the investigation because "other witnesses confirmed his statement and we still hold the information and it is naive to believe that any part of the report was based on his testimony". Meaning that isn't the way it's done. A single hit is an "indication," usually flagged as a "possible." Two hits are "probable." Three hits or better allows you to make declarative statements. Intel reports are usually pretty boring reads because of the number of weasel words contained therein. It doesn't sound like Mehlis' report has an awful lot of them. Mehlis, who is due to present his findings to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, left Lebanon on Saturday. Lebanon has asked the United Nations to extend the inquiry for a further six months but Mehlis is stepping down when its initial six-month mandate expires this month. I'm guessing he doesn't actually need the additional six months.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

UN investigators quiz Leb colonel

2005-11-25

UN investigators have questioned a Lebanese army colonel named in a UN report as one of the officials in charge of wiretapping slain former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, security sources say. The investigators, accompanied by Lebanese police, on Thursday searched the home of Colonel Ghassan Tufayli who was head of the Lebanese military intelligence's surveillance unit, the sources said. There was no comment from the Lebanese army or the UN investigating commission on the report. Tufayli was allowed to go after several hours of questioning. It was not immediately clear whether he faced possible charges. Lebanon has already charged four pro-Syrian security generals, including the ex-military intelligence chief, Raymond Azar, in connection with the 14 February killing of al-Hariri and 22 others near Beirut's seafront. An interim report by chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis in October said Tufayli's unit had al-Hariri "under permanent wiretapping" and had passed on details of his conversations to Azar and to army chief General Michel Suleiman. "According to Colonel Tufayli's statement, General Raymond Azar sent the protocols to the Lebanese President (Emile Lahoud) and to General (Rustom) Ghazali, the head of the Syrian Military Intelligence in Lebanon," the report said. Mehlis implicated senior Syrian and Lebanese officials, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law, in the killing. His findings prompted a unanimous UN Security Council resolution threatening Syria with unspecified action if it did not cooperate with the inquiry. Syria has strongly denied any role. Mehlis has asked to question six senior Syrian security officials, but disagreements about the venue and the legal framework have yet to be resolved.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

The Money Scandal Behind the Hariri Assassination

2005-10-30

The U.N. report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri released last week circulated in two versions: one available on the U.N. website that had names and passages deleted, and another, more privately available version with the deletions restored. It was in the unedited version that the names of high-ranking Syrian government officials were visible—and thus implicated—in the killing. But in versions available in English-language Mideast media and Websites, there was another deletion of interest, that of an institution: the Bank al Madina. While the U.N. report said that Hariri's murder was political, it went on to say that individuals involved in the plot may have had other motives, including fraud, corruption and money-laundering. In short, it recommended: "Follow the money." The Bank al Madina collapsed in early 2003, after it had been looted of about $1.65 billion. Several people in that fraud were also named in the U.N. report to the Hariri assassination. Lebanese legal sources say that while local prosecutors cannot yet prove that the plot was paid for with money originating from Madina accounts, there are significant indications that the bank's collapse and the assassination may be linked. "Madina money must have seemed untraceable to [the plotters]," says one Lebanese attorney who has discussed the case with prosecutors. Even before its collapse, Madina was key to the shadowy financial dealings of Lebanese and Syrian politicians, as well as a way for Saddam Hussein's Central Bank of Iraq to launder money. It was during this period that large payments—in cash, cars, contracts and real estate—were allegedly made by the bank's executive secretary to key Lebanese and Syrian officials. "It has been, to my knowledge, a key money-laundering operation in the Middle East, even in the years preceding the collapse of the bank," says one former U.S. intelligence operative who worked extensively on organized crime issues in the 1990s. The bank's executive secretary, Rana Koleilat, was jailed on multiple fraud counts from early 2004 until just prior to the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in April 2005. Koleilat was spirited away from her jail cell, apparently to Cairo, where she is said to be living under an assumed name. Lebanese critics of Syria say this was to keep her from providing local prosecutors with evidence against the Syrian overlords of Lebanon. Madina's key documents had been sealed by the head of Syrian Military Intelligence in Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Rustom Ghazali. Ghazali's predecessor Ghazi Kenaan was found dead, apparently a suicide, in Damascus in the week leading up to the release of the U.N. report, which mentions Kenaan and Ghazali in both edited and unedited versions. The Chairman of the Lebanon's Central Bank reportedly received threats at about the time the Madina investigation was put on ice in mid- to late 2003. In an interview, Riad Salameh simply says, "Whatever happened, we did our duty to protect depositors and protect the reputation of the country's banking system." Documents show that Ghazali's family received millions of dollars, some going to the general's brothers (allegedly through fake credit cards issued by the bank). Another alleged payment cited in the Lebanese and Western press includes $300,000 in cash going to the general himself. A private investigative report commissioned by Madina's principal owner Adnan Ayyash (who also faces charges over the collapse and is at odds with his former executive secretary) alleges that Rana Koleilat handed over a Beirut apartment worth an estimated $2.5 million to the office manager of Lieut. Colonel Maher Assad, the brother of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The U.N. report has linked the colonel to the Hariri assassination. Ayyash's private report also alleges that Madina may have overpaid the son-in-law of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, an ally of Syria, for a villa. The bank forked over $10 million for property that has now been appraised at $2.5 million. Before his death, Rafiq Hariri had denounced the closure of the Madina investigation and had accused the Syrians of financial corruption. But, given the Byzantine nature of Lebanese politics, there may have been more going on than high-mindedness. Before the bank collapsed, the Koleilat family had been setting themselves up as political and economic rivals to the Hariris, spending millions on charities and gifts in an effort to win over Hariri's Sunni constituency. But would that have made them natural allies of the Syrians, who disliked Hariri for his ties to the west? Or was the flood of cash from Madina simply too massive for anyone to have any idea of the use that all of the largesse was being put to? The weeks ahead should provide more revelations now that the U.N. has turned the international tide against Syrian influence in Lebanon—and sources in that country may no longer be afraid to speak.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria denies officer threatened Lebanese minister

2005-09-29

Syria denied on Wednesday accusations by Lebanese Defence Minister Elias al-Murr, once a staunch ally of Damascus, that Syria's former intelligence chief in Lebanon had threatened his life. Murr told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that Rustom Ghazali, intelligence chief at the time, had made verbal death threats long before the minister survived a bomb blast that targeted his motorcade in Beirut in July. Murr, speaking from Europe, said he had decided to stay abroad because he did not trust Lebanon's security agencies to protect him. "Murr is rushing to join the dominant chorus which is throwing accusations at Syria left and right," said al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece. Al-Thawra and two other state-owned newspapers quoted an official source as dismissing Murr's charges as "full of lies". "Lies! All lies!"

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria denies officer threatened Lebanese minister

2005-09-28

DAMASCUS - Syria denied on Wednesday accusations by Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Al Murr, once a staunch ally of Damascus, that Syria’s former intelligence chief in Lebanon had threatened his life. Murr told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that Rustom Ghazali, intelligence chief at the time, had made verbal death threats long before the minister survived a bomb blast that targeted his motorcade in Beirut in July. Murr, speaking from Europe, said he had decided to stay abroad because he did not trust Lebanon’s security agencies to protect him. “Murr is rushing to join the dominant chorus which is throwing accusations at Syria left and right,” said al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece. Al-Thawra and two other state-owned newspapers quoted an official source as dismissing Murr’s charges as “full of lies”. The source suggested that Murr was trying to implicate Syria in the killing of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut in February. “The source voiced astonishment that Mr. Murr took on such a role which was synchronised with the return from Damascus of members of the international team investigating the (Hariri) assassination...” al-Thawra said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Detlev to get more time...

2005-09-09

UN chief Investigator Detlev Mehlis was set to be granted a six week extension to his investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A New York-based UN source told The Daily Star Mehlis was due to meet with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last night when he would be given until the end of October to finish his work in Lebanon and Syria. Mehlis is scheduled to visit Damascus on Saturday to interview Syrian officials who "played security roles" in Lebanon in the past 15 years. That'll be some interesting conversations. He might also want to check their bank accounts... A Lebanese diplomatic source said Mehlis would ask Annan to exert more pressure on Syria to allow him to interrogate highly ranked Syrian security and political officials. It is understood that Mehlis wants to question Syria's current interior minister Ghazi Kanaan, who formerly served as Damascus' military intelligence chief in Lebanon from 1982 to 2002. Kanaan's successor in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazali, and two key aides in Beirut, Mohammad Makhlouf and Jamaa Jamaa, are also on the list of people he wishes to interview.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Probe Team ‘Uncovers’ High-Level Links in Plot to Kill Hariri

2005-09-06

UN investigators probing the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri have uncovered leads in Beirut that point to high-level involvement in the plot to kill him, a report said yesterday. Der Spiegel weekly news magazine said the arrest of four allies of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud at the weekend “can mean a breakthrough and bring Syria to book.” It's only a start. Expect the bad guyz to wiggle and obfuscate and counterattack if they can get away with it — or if they're cornered and have nothing to lose... “The UN team ... believes it can now prove that those arrested plotted the murder in an attempt to silence the former anti-Syrian prime minister,” it said. The leads include fingerprints found in an empty apartment in Beirut where it is believed the plot to kill Hariri was hatched and a car which was seen following his convoy on Feb. 14 just before it was struck by a powerful bomb that killed the premier and 19 other people. The car belongs to Lebanon’s former army intelligence director Raymond Azar, according to Der Spiegel, which is regularly reporting on the UN probe lead by German state prosecutor Detlev Mehlis. If that's true, it's a good indication that you don't have to pass an IQ test to sign up with Leb intelligence... It said Mehlis has also found a trail of telephone calls that “leads directly to the highest levels of the security apparatus.” That's downright sloppy. I guess they had it their own way for so long they eventually decided that there was no way anybody was going to bring them to book. That reinforces my opinion that they considered the Hariri boom nothing more than business as usual — they were probably surprised as hell when anything came of it. A Lebanese judge on Saturday ordered the four suspects to be held in custody after he questioned them about the murder and their arrest is seen as the first major step toward a trial in the case. They are Azar, presidential guard commander Mustafa Hamdan, former general security chief Jamil Al-Sayed and ex-internal security head Ali Al-Hage. Mehlis, however, has said that he believes they are “only part of the picture” that makes up the plot to kill Hariri. Since there are strings tied to their limbs that run back to Syria that's not surprising... The investigator’s mandate expires in October and he has accused Syria trying to stall his work, leading to calls from the international community to Damascus to cooperate. Syria has denied any involvement in the assassination which sparked a wave of public protests, prompting the departure of Syrian troops in April and transforming Lebanese politics. The state radio charged yesterday that the United States and its Western allies have “hatched a plan” to use the inquiry into the murder of Hariri to damage Syria. Toldja so. But with the position they're in, booming somebody in Beirut won't accomplish anything, and if they boom Mehlis or Mr. Presiding Judge they've made things a lot worse — they could end up with the 82nd Airborne and the French Paras in Damascus... Radio Damascus reaffirmed that Syria was prepared to cooperate in full with the UN inquiry but also seethed over continued accusations that it was implicated in the assassination of Hariri. Oh, I like it when they seethe... “Syria has nothing to hide and has no fear about the Hariri affair. On the contrary it has invited Mehlis to Damascus so that he can meet the people he would like to,” the radio said in its daily commentary. “Nobody has any doubts about the honesty of Mehlis or about his capacity to discover the truth. But the leaders in Washington and other Western countries are trying to use this criminal affair to damage Syria after the failure of all their attempts to tarnish its image.” We're not doing the investigation, are we? “The plan hatched against the region will damage Syria and also the whole Arab world. Besieging Syria and breaking its historic links with Lebanon are aimed at imposing foreign domination,” over the two countries, it alleged. Syria running Leb as a colony wasn't foreign domination? Syria has vehemently rejected allegations of involvement in the February bomb blast in Beirut that killed the anti-Damascus Hariri and 20 others. Mehlis wants to interrogate the former head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazali, and two other former top agents in Beirut. He is to hold talks in Syria on Saturday.

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