Accused General: "We Are Going to Send Him on a Trip - Bye, Bye Hariri"

(Daily Star-Lebanon) Mayssam Zaaroura, Majdoline Hatoum, and Leila Hatoum - Hariri's son, Beirut MP Saad Hariri, said his father "told me that President Bashar Assad threatened him, telling him: 'This is what I want. If you think that President Chirac and you are going to run Lebanon, you are mistaken. It is not going to happen. President Lahoud is me. Whatever I tell him, he follows suit. This extension [of Lahoud's term] is to happen or else I will break Lebanon over your head and Walid Jumblat's....So, you either do as you are told or we will get you and your family wherever you are.'" The UN report states: "General Jamil Al-Sayyed [head of Lebanese general intelligence], according to the witness, cooperated closely with General Mustapha Hamdan [commander of Lebanon's presidential guard] and General Raymond Azar [head of Lebanon's military intelligence] in the preparation of the assassination of Mr. Hariri. He also coordinated with General Rustum Ghazali [head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon]....Another witness approached the Commission and stated that he had met with General Hamdan in the middle of October 2004. General Hamdan talked very negatively about Mr. Hariri, accusing him of being pro-Israeli. General Hamdan ended the conversation by stating: 'We are going to send him on a trip - bye, bye Hariri.'"


2005-10-21 00:00:00

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