Tuesday 26 May 2009

Al-Akhbar: Der Spiegel Report Source is Lebanese


Al-Akhbar: Der Spiegel Report Source is Lebanese

25/05/2009 The German embassy issued on Monday a statement in which it said that the German government has no information about the Der Spiegel Report concerning an alleged "involvement" of Hezbollah in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

The embassy's statement stressed that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is independent, noting that the STL's spokeswoman already declared the tribunal's official stance.

Earlier, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar said that the report published by the German magazine Der Spiegel on Hezbollah’s alleged involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was prepared beforehand and only came to light following a report from The Hague sources on the suspicious intelligence links of a German journalist in Lebanon, Israel and Germany.

According to Al-Akhbar, the whole issue has its own security and political dimensions that date back to five years ago, “and the team responsible for the leaks will demonstrate more such reports with the persisting aim of transforming Hezbollah into a terror organization.”

“Shortly after Detlev Mehlis started his investigation in the Beirut crime, and just before the detention of the four generals, the investigative panel and some witnesses who testified at the Mote Verde hotel, revealed information about a trend to pose direct questions about Hezbollah’s security and military leadership formation as well as Hezbollah’s capability to carry out such acts (the Hariri assassination).
When the four officers were detained, they were subject to similar questions, only this time the investigators sought unknown names of commanders who had played roles in special missions. However the course of the investigation was focusing on ways to implicate Syria through the four top security generals and attempts to neutralize Hezbollah by direct pressure and threats of a direct campaign against the arms of the resistance, if the party attempted to support or defend the four officers.
Shortly afterwards, another warning was made: Hezbollah’s rejection to the investigation results will raise the level of confrontation to personally assailing Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. It was not too long before MP Walid Jumblatt spearheaded the campaign to undervalue Sayyed Nasrallah and the arms of the resistance,” the daily said.

Al-Akhbar cited many reasons for the new-but-old anti Hezbollah campaign:
“First, the failure of the Lebanese and the international investigation to establish what can implicate the four generals in the murder.
Second, the failure of the Israeli aggression, at all levels, to strike Hezbollah as well as the failure to drive a wedge between Syria and Iran and between Syria and Hezbollah, has led the some intelligence circles and the team overseeing the investigation in Lebanon to search for something different.
Apparently, the international investigative panel, under prosecutor Daniel Bellemar is working on new threads, yet without prior notice Bellemar receives a report by a Lebanese security apparatus comprising information about a telecommunications network and Hezbollah members in direct contact with it, according to the report.”

The daily added that the decision to raise the level of confrontation had materialized when Egypt decided to turn the issue of “Sami Shehab” who was providing the Palestinian resistance in Gaza with logistics, into an issue of terrorism and a personal campaign against Sayyed Nasrallah.

The second indication, the daily continues, is concentrating on labeling Hezbollah as a criminal party by invoking the May 7 incidents, with the aim of projecting Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
The third indication is the ‘extraordinary security’ endeavor by the Israeli intelligence to establish the image of ‘terrorist Hezbollah’ in western popular, official and political circle, particularly in Europe.

In this framework, the daily questioned the circumstances and the dimensions of such bids and aske:
“Didn’t those concerned in Israel receive the strong message yet that Hezbollah was ready to flip the table on everyone if the resistance came under serious threat?
Or are there new preparations for an all-out war with the upcoming Israeli maneuvers being a strong indication to this trend and Der Spiegel’s police series that was produced in Beirut being the introduction that aims at stirring the sedition that Israel believes is a inseparable of any security or military campaign against the resistance?

"DER WEASEL"

Source is Lebanese
Posted by G, Z, & or B at 4:53 PM

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