Haaretz
Sivan 21, 5766
Lebanon has decided to
file a complaint with the United Nations Security Council asserting that
Israel was behind a string of assassinations in the country, the Lebanese
prime minister said on Saturday.
"We consider this as an act of
aggression (by Israel)," Fouad Siniora told reporters.
"We are
working on the file and once it is completed we will submit a complaint to
the United Nations Security Council."
An investigation carried out
by Lebanese intelligence recently uncovered the alleged Israeli involvement in the assassinations.
According to the report, the agents involved in the hits were headed by a
former Lebanese police officer.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi
Salloukh said the report on the investigation includes unequivocal
evidence and added that Beirut would file a complaint with the Security
Council in order to "present Israel's nakedness before the international
community," the Lebanese As-Safir newspaper reported on
Friday.
According to As-Safir, the Beirut decision is meant
to reduce the diplomatic pressure that has been placed on the Lebanese
government, particularly by U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman who has
expressed doubts as to the veracity of the investigations findings.
Feltman also maintains that Hezbollah - and not Lebanese
intelligence - stands behind the claim that an assassination network was
exposed.
Feltman even hinted that the affair might negatively
influence American-Lebanese relations and U.S. military aid to
Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese military is continuing with its
"Dawn Surprise" operation focusing on Mahmoud Rafeh. They were arrested
last week together with three other suspects in connection with a May 26
car bombing that killed two Islamic Jihad officials. Rafeh reportedly
admitted to a role in the killings.
Rafeh also confessed to
assassinating two officials of Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group and a
senior Palestinian militant, the army said.
The Lebanese are also
hunting down Hassin Hatab, a Palestinian resident of Sidon with extensive
connections in refugee camps in Lebanon and with the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine - General Command, headed by Ahmed Jibril.
Hatab was directly involved in assassinations and attempted
assassinations of senior Hamas leaders living in Lebanon and Syria.
As-Safir reported that Hatab and Rafeh each directed a
network of agents working independently in Lebanon and Syria. According to
directives received by their operators in the Israeli Mossad, the two men
reportedly shared information within the framework of carrying out their
assignments.
Hatab has not yet been tracked down but Lebanese
security forces are currently attempting to tighten the ring around him.
There are reports, however, that his wife has been arrested and provided
Lebanese authorities with information critical to the investigation
against her husband. Investigators noted that other family members of both
Rafeh and Hatab were not involved in the assassination networks and will
likely be released from custody in the coming days.
Lebanon:
Israeli naval commandos brought bombs to Lebanon
Lebanese Defense
Minister Elias Al-Murr told reporters at a press conference held Thursday
in Beirut there are similarities between the methods and techniques
employed by Rafeh and Hatab in a number of blasts they orchestrated and
the assassination of Islamic Jihad's military commander in Lebanese,
Mahmoud Majzoub and his brother Nidal, last month.
Al-Murr hinted
that Rafeh received a replacement door for a Mercedes car that contained a
remote-controlled explosive device. The car was blown up next to Majzoub's
car in Sidon.
Al-Murr noted that Rafeh and Hatab received their
explosives from various sources - including via the disputed Shaba Farms
area on the Israeli-Lebanese border and via the Mediterranean Sea with the
help of Israeli naval commandos.
According to Al-Murr, the Rafeh
investigation revealed that Mossad agents - including women - would enter
Lebanon with Lebanese or European identification and would take active
roles in the operations.
The Lebanese defense minister also said
that, despite advances made in the investigation, there is still no proof
of the connection between the network of agents and the recent explosions
in eastern Beirut tied to the attempted assassinations of minister Marwan
Hamada and journalist Jubran Tawini.