Hizbullah: Geagea Remarks Blatant Attempt to Pour Oil on Fire of Sectarian Strife
Hizbullah on Thursday condemned remarks by Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea who accused the party of playing an “executive role” in the assassination of Intelligence Bureau chief Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, describing them as a “blatant, inflammatory attempt to pour oil on the fire of sectarian strife."
"The leader of the Lebanese Forces party – who is convicted of a series of major crimes against Lebanese individuals and groups, topped by the assassination of martyr premier Rashid Karami – has voiced a chorus of false accusations about an executive role for Hizbullah in the assassination of martyr Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, which we reject entirely,” the party said in a statement.
And as Hizbullah condemned “Geagea's statements and accusations,” it described them as “a blatant, inflammatory attempt to pour oil on the fire of sectarian strife and to raise the level of tensions in the country.”
The party noted that this accusation “must be rejected by any sane and patriotic person,” adding that “only those who agree to offer a free service to the Israeli enemy” would approve it.
Geagea lashed out on Thursday at Lebanese security agencies, accusing some officials of carrying out an Iranian-Syrian plot undertaken by Hizbullah inside the country.
“If the case of (former information) Minister Michel Samaha, which led to the assassination of ISF Intelligence Bureau head Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan last week fell in the wrong hands, they might have covered the matter up and Lebanon would have witnessed greater havoc,” Geagea said in comments published in the Saudi daily al-Watan.
Under Hasan, the ISF played a central role in the August arrest of Samaha, who has close links to Damascus. He was charged with planning attacks to spark sectarian strife in Lebanon.
The agency was also deeply involved in seeking the arrest of those responsible for a host of attacks and assassinations between 2005 and 2008, starting with the former Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination, for which Hasan blamed Damascus.
In October 2010, the Syrian courts issued arrest warrants against 33 Lebanese figures, including Hasan, for perjury in the case of the Hariri assassination.
The LF leader refused to name the people or sides that these officials are affiliated with, but he indicated that they are “security officials” in Lebanese security agencies.
Geagea said that when Hasan unveiled Samaha's plot, he halted an attempt by Syria to make Lebanon a “mailbox” for regional and international countries.
“The regime of (Syrian President Bashar) Assad and Iran are responsible for the assassination of Hasan, while Hizbullah carried out the crime,” he told the daily.
Friday's bombing killed along with Hasan two other people and the March 14-led opposition and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat accused Syria of the crime.
Geagea pointed out that “Hasan provoked the axis of Iran-Syria-Hizbullah by exposing the security breaches that some of those who belong to parties close to the Assad regime are carrying out.”
Samaha, Syrian security Chief Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk and a Syrian colonel, identified by his first name Adnan, were charged with forming a group to commit crimes in Lebanon.
The three were also charged with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures.
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