By Patrick Galey and Richard Hall
Exclusive
BEIRUT: An alleged Hizbullah operative linked by recent media reports to the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was named in 2006 as the prime suspect in the assassinations of journalist Samir Kassir and politician George Hawi, according to leaked diplomatic documents seen by The Daily Star.
In a 2006 meeting with US representatives in Beirut, Internal Security Forces (ISF) chief Ashraf Rifi said Abdel-Majid Ghamloush killed Kassir and Hawi before fleeing Lebanon to live in Syria under Syrian protection. Ghamloush was also accused of the attempted killing of ISF deputy intelligence chief Samir Shehadeh.
“General Rifi is convinced that Syrian authorities are directly responsible for all three crimes,” said a cable classified by US Secretary of State Jeremy Feltman and seen exclusively by The Daily Star. “Rifi said the investigation conclusively concluded that [Abdel-] Majid Ghamloush, a Lebanese citizen from the Shiite community in south Lebanon was responsible for the Hawi and Kassir assassinations.
“General Rifi believes the successful identification of a culprit was the motive for the assassination attempt on the life of ISF’s Deputy Chief of Intelligence Samir Shehadeh on September 5, 2006 just outside of [Sidon],” Feltman wrote. “Before the suspect could be apprehended, however, he successfully fled to Syria and is currently believed to be living there under the protection of the Syrian regime.”
Kassir and Hawi, both outspoken critics of Syria’s influence in Lebanon, were assassinated in separate June 2005 car bomb attacks in Beirut as part of the wave of political killings that shook the country beginning in 2004.
The ISF chief indicated that Hizbullah knew that both attacks were coming.
“Rifi also stated that some of the evidence indicated ‘several’ of the acts of political violence that were committed in late 2004 and throughout 2005 are connected. The general did not mince words when he stated that Syrian and Iranian involvement is a given,” Feltman wrote. “He did not directly implicate Hizbullah, but said the fact that a radicalized member of the Shia community from south Lebanon committed the crime indicates Hizbullah should have at least been aware of the plan.”
A report last month by Canadian broadcaster CBC suggested that Hizbullah was involved in the death of former Hariri, who was killed by a massive car bomb in Beirut on Valentine’s Day 2005. The report pointed to mobile phone records which appeared to implicate Ghamloush.
The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is expected to issue indictments in the coming weeks but Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has warned of dire consequences should anticipated warrants against party members materialize.
The STL, as well as the initial United Nations International Independent Investigation Committee (UNIIIC) probe, is mentioned on numerous occasions in cables seen by The Daily Star.
Some will fuel claims that the STL is politicized. In a cable dated July 6, 2007, Minister of Justice Charles Rizk appeared to ask Feltman to pass on Lebanon’s preferred choice of tribunal judges.
“Rizk would like us to whisper quietly to UN officials which four are Lebanon’s preferred choices out of the twelve judicial nominations,” it read.
Rizk reportedly told Feltman that he was trying to delay the release of the four Lebanese generals held in connection with the assassination, due to the “devastating impact their release would have on March 14 morale.”
In a cable dated June 20, 2006, UNIIIC Commissioner Serge Bremmertz reportedly expressed concerns that evidence against the jailed generals was not strong enough to justify their continued detention. It also alleged that the attorney of Jamil Sayyed planned to approach a host of party leaders with the offer that if Sayyed was released from prison, he would leave Lebanon within 24 hours.