Geagea: Iran, Syria gave Hezbollah order to kill Hasan

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea launched a vehement attack on the country’s security authorities, accusing them of following Syrian-Iranian schemes being implemented by Hezbollah. “Lebanese security services and security officials are going along with Syrian-Iranian plots that are being implemented by Hezbollah,” Geagea said in remarks published Thursday by the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan. Geagea said Lebanon’s top intelligence chief Brig. Gen.Wissam al-Hasan, who was assassinated by a car bombing in Beirut last week, had dealt a blow to the ambitions of those who sought to drag Lebanon into the conflict in neighboring Syria. “The pro-Assad regime, alongside Iran, is clearly and directly involved in the plot to liquidate Brig. Gen. Hasan, [a scheme] being carried out by Hezbollah,” Geagea said in remarks published Thursday by the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan. Hasan was the head of the Internal Security Forces Information Branch and uncovered evidence of a plot involving former Lebanese minister Michel Samaha and Syrian National Security Bureau head Ali Mamlouk to transfer explosives from Syria to Lebanon and carry out a series of assassinations in the country. The March 14 coalition, to which Geagea belongs, has accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of standing behind Hasan’s assassination. Hasan was close to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the leader of the opposition.March 14 has called for Hasan’s case to be referred to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. In the interview, Geagea said Lebanon would have seen more destruction than the damage caused by last week’s bombing had the plot involving Samaha not been uncovered by Hasan. From DailyStar