Security Agencies Handed Complete Telecom Data as Hopes Grow March 14 Camp Will Resume Dialogue
Security agencies have received the complete telecom data of the Touch mobile phone service provider, revealed security sources to the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat Sunday.
They are set to receive the complete data from Lebanon’s second provider, Alfa, in the upcoming hours, they added.
A ministerial, judicial, and security meeting, headed by President Michel Suleiman, is scheduled to be held on Monday in order to discuss the handover of telecom data to the concerned authorities, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.
Sources monitoring Suleiman’s efforts told the daily that the president will deduce whether the meeting fulfilled the March 14 camp’s conditions on resuming the national dialogue.
If it does, then he will intensify his efforts to persuade it to return to the all-party talks.
On the camp’s demands that Hizbullah commit to the dialogue agenda, informed sources revealed that indirect talks were held among the party’s leadership over MP Mohammed Raad’s recent statements that there is no need to discuss the defense strategy.
The sources said that his remarks express his opinion and do not necessarily mean that Hizbullah is not keen on discussing a defense strategy, seeing as Suleiman had proposed the topic on dialogue agenda.
They hoped that the talks will be resumed, noting that Suleiman has devised a draft on the defense strategy that explains when and how the arms can be used.
It also tackles the possession of weapons in cities, as well as that of Palestinian refugees.
The president will highlight the authority of the state in the defense strategy, which will likely fall in line with the March 14 camp’s expectations, added the sources.
Suleiman will emphasize his insistence to resume the national dialogue during the Army Day speech on August 1, they revealed.
The March 14 camp suspended its participation in the national dialogue following the failure to address the case of the telecom data and possession of arms in Lebanon, especially that of Hizbullah and Palestinian refugees.
MP Butros Harb on Thursday revealed Suleiman had informed him that the relevant authorities “have decided to hand over the complete telecom data” to the security agencies probing the recent failed attempt on his life.
“A formula has been reached for that,” Harb said, adding that such a move would represent “a serious step towards unveiling the circumstances of the attempt on my life.”
Harb was the target of a murder attempt on July 5 when residents of a building in which his office is located in the Beirut district of Badaro discovered individuals trying to booby-trap the elevator.
The March 14 alliance has tied its participation in the national dialogue to the government’s approval to hand over the telecom data, including International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), to security agencies investigating the attempted assassinations of Harb and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea.
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