Opposition MPs Receive 'Syria Threats' by SMS
March 14 camp MP Ammar Houri revealed that he and four colleagues were texted death threats from a Syrian telephone number before and after Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Wissam al-Hasan's assassination on Friday.
"On the eve of the attack, we received an SMS from a Syrian number that read: 'Sons of bitches, we will get you one by one,'" Ammar Houri said on television on Monday night.
He named the other MPs as Ahmed Fatfat, Hadi Hbeish, Khaled al-Daher and Nuhad al-Mashnouq.
"At the time, we didn't pay any attention to it, until the assassination of Hasan," which was widely blamed on Damascus that also left two others dead.
"After the assassination, we received a second SMS that read: 'Congratulations, the countdown has begun. One of 10 eliminated.'"
Hasan was noted for his investigation of Syrian political crimes in Lebanon. His murder plunged the country, divided between partisans and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad, into a political crisis.
Houri and the four other MPs belong to the March 14 opposition, which is led by former Premier Saad Hariri, a strong opponent of Assad, whom he blames for the 2005 assassination of his father and former premier, Rafik.
The opposition has demanded that Prime Minister Najib Miqati resign, accusing him of covering for the murderers of Hasan.
Since Rafik Hariri's murder, several other Lebanese political figures hostile to the Damascus regime have also been assassinated.
Source: Agence France Presse
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