Lebanon police raid 'Hariri bomb plot apartment'

Lebanon police raid 'Hariri bomb plot apartment'
August 31, 2005
Police raid apartment building in southern Beirut reportedly used by former security chiefs to plan Hariri murder.
By Salim Yassine - BEIRUT
Lebanese police on Wednesday raided a Beirut flat reportedly used by former security chiefs to plan the attack that killed former premier Rafiq Hariri six months ago, an AFP correspondent reported.
The move came after four former pro-Syrian security chiefs were arrested and grilled by Lebanese judges and UN investigators over their alleged involvement in the February bombing, increasing the pressure on President Emile Lahoud.
Lebanon's investigating magistrate is expected to question the four again and determine whether to release them, put them under house arrest or issue formal arrest warrants which would mean their continued detention.
The arrests were the first major development in the probe into Hariri's killing in a Beirut bomb blast on February 14 that has been widely blamed on former power broker Syria and its political allies in Lebanon at the time.
Al-Mostaqbal newspaper, which is owned by the Hariri family, charged that the four had "held meetings to prepare for the crime" in a Beirut apartment.
"They also inspected the site of the attack the day before ... and (afterwards) tampered with evidence at the scene to put investigators on the wrong track."
Police raided the apartment building in southern Beirut's Moawad district and arrested the owner, Salim Nassar, the AFP correspondent said.
The head of Lahoud's presidential guard Musfafa Hamdan, who turned himself in Tuesday, was questioned by UN investigators along with former general security chief Jamil al-Sayed, ex internal security head Ali al-Hage and former army intelligence director Raymond Azar.
Former pro-Syrian lawmaker Nasser Qandil, who was also detained in the probe, was freed after appearing before the UN commission of inquiry in Beirut on Tuesday.
Syria's government daily Ath-Thawra expressed fears of "seeing pressure from certain quarters to politicise the commission report" adding that "despite all the attempts to put the blame on Syria, we have no doubt that the commission will confirm its innocence."
The United States described the arrests as a "very dramatic development," noting the officials' long-standing ties to Syria, and reiterated its complaint over the lack of cooperation from Damascus.
Tuesday's arrests came just days after German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who heads the UN commission, submitted an interim report to the Security Council.
Mehlis, whose commission has rounded up about 240 people for questioning since April, is due to hold a press conference in Beirut on Thursday.
The arrests have also ratcheted up the pressure on Lahoud, the Damascus protege who himself has long denied allegations of complicity in the assassination and resisted pressure to stand down.
"The commission is tightening the noose around President Lahoud," the mass-selling As-Safir newspaper said, while prominent anti-Syrian politician, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt predicted: "President Lahoud is finished."
The murder triggered massive opposition protests and heightened international pressure on Syria, which pulled its troops out of the country in April after a three-decade military presence.
Legislative elections were held in May and June which for the first time saw anti-Syrian politicians dominate parliament.
Since the Hariri attack, there have been 11 bomb blasts in Lebanon, and several anti-Syrians including a politician and a journalist have been killed. A number of prominent figures, including Saad Hariri, now spend much of their time outside the country for fear of assassination.