President linked to Hariri blast

The Australian ^ | 10/23/05 | Martin Chulov

[Valin]

SECURITY forces yesterday arrested a pro-Syrian militant alleged to have telephoned Lebanese President Emile Lahoud minutes before the country's former prime minister Rafik Hariri was killed by a car bomb in February. The arrest of Mahmoud Abdel-Al intensifies pressure on Mr Lahoud to resign in the face of a damning UN report that accuses Syrian and Lebanese officials aligned to him of conspiring to kill Hariri.

Mr Lahoud, a staunchly pro-Syrian head of state, has denied receiving the call, and has appealed for calm across Lebanon in the wake of the report, which is set to reshape the political destinies of both nations. The arrest follows the detention of former Lebanese generals, among them the head of Mr Lahoud's security detail. All are suspected of having played a role in the massive February 14 bombing of Hariri's convoy that killed 22 others.

Investigators allege Abdel-Al's phone was also used to call the mobile number of one of the detained generals. All four have denied any role in the plot. The development follows an intensive diplomatic push, led by the US and Britain, to call Damascus to account for its alleged role as ringmaster in the killing. Two senior members of the Syrian regime, among them President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat, were named by UN investigator Detlev Mehlis as leaders of a state-sanctioned "Murder Inc". US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw both accused Syria of arrogance.

Ahead of a UN Security Council meeting in New York this week that is expected to debate how to deal with the regime, Dr Rice accused Damascus of "obstruction of justice" and failing to face up to obligations to stop sponsoring terrorism. Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, a Lebanese legislator, has called for an international tribunal to deal with prosecutions that may stem from the report. "Reaching justice presents the Arab and international communities with additional responsibilities that prompt us to urge them to continue all aspects of the investigation and refer it to an international court that is capable of pursuing the criminals," he said in a television address.

The report fingered a total of 10 conspirators, all of whom are linked to military or security wings of the Syrian and Lebanese governments. It offered a forensic condemnation of the pervasive and corrupting role that Syria played in all aspects of Lebanese society before it was forced to cut and run in the wake of Hariri's killing. Two rollover witnesses, both former members of the Syrian secret police, told the UN that planning for Hariri's murder started around the time he met Syrian leader Mr Assad in August last year.

A phone conversation recorded by Syria several weeks earlier on July 19, between one unnamed source and the head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon, General Rhustom Ghazali, spelt out the early stages of a plot. "The President of the Republic (of Syria) told me this morning that there are two to rule the country, the prime minister and him. He said that things cannot continue this way," General Ghazali said to a Lebanese official turned informant. The pair then spelt out the early days of an uprising, urging workers to take to the streets in protest. However, the terror plot appears to have been formally struck about a month later, within days of the UN Security Council passing a resolution that Syria withdraw from Lebanon.

In early January this year, one senior Syrian told the informant there soon "would be an earthquake that would rewrite the history of Lebanon". On January 21, a Mitsubishi Canter van, stolen 12 months earlier in Japan, crossed into Lebanon through the Bekaa border, passing via a military hot lane. It was then driven to the Hammana military base near Beirut. About a week later, at a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon, a third informant claimed to have seen the same van being worked on by collaborators. Doors were being stripped and the cabin and flatbed filled with explosives. Two witnesses said they conducted three reconnaissance trips to the waterfront area of Beirut, near the St George hotel where Hariri was killed.

In total, seven Syrian and four Lebanese officials were alleged to have been involved in the plot. An analysis of mobile phone traffic in the weeks before and after the bomb revealed the plotters used 10 mobile numbers -- mostly to monitor Hariri's movements.

[ncountylee]

Will Kofi still be paid now that the names are known?

[bdfromlv]

I thought with the article title (Bush at it again)