Franjieh: We Must Know Who 'Betrayed' al-Hasan, Suleiman Stance on Samaha Case Extreme
Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh on Friday said one should not ask who killed Intelligence Bureau chief Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan but rather who “betrayed” him.
“We must not ask who killed Wissam al-Hasan but rather who betrayed Wissam al-Hasan, and usually those who betray are the allies,” said Franjieh in an interview on al-Manar television.
“Western intelligence agencies were asking Wissam al-Hasan about the rise of extremism and he was reassuring them before he got killed,” Franjieh added, wondering why al-Hasan was “assassinated amid the shift in the international stance on the Syrian crisis.”
The Marada leader accused the opposition March 14 camp of taking advantage of al-Hasan's assassination in order to topple Prime Minister Najib Miqati's government.
“Blaming Miqati for al-Hasan's blood is a way to seize the premiership,” Franjieh charged.
“March 14 is not boycotting the government in order to topple it, but rather to form its own government or for the electoral law,” added Franjieh.
The March 14 forces on Tuesday declared a “total boycott” of Miqati's government, calling for a “neutral, salvation government that endorses the Baabda Declaration as its ministerial Policy Statement.”
Franjieh claimed that the Intelligence Bureau's arrest of Israeli spies was “coordinated with the Americans in order to give credibility to the bureau that enables it to accuse the four Hizbullah members” of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.
The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon has charged four Hizbullah members – Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra – of involvement in the attack.
Answering a question, Franjieh said: “If Wissam al-Hasan had a role in sabotaging Syria, that means that Syria has the motive to assassinate him, but I don't believe that it had anything to do with the operation.”
“March 14 are hinting that al-Hasan was a friend of Israel and an enemy of Syria by refusing to accuse Israel of the assassination,” he added.
Turning to former minister Michel Samaha's case, Franjieh described President Michel Suleiman's stances on the issue as “extreme.”
“The president should have congratulated al-Hasan and (Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf) Rifi and awaited the results of the investigation instead of launching accusations,” Franjieh added.
Al-Hasan was killed on October 19 in a car bomb attack in the Beirut district of Ashrafiyeh.
The powerful explosion rocked a street adjacent to Sassine Square in Ashrafiyeh, leaving two other people dead and more than 100 wounded, in the first such attack in the Lebanese capital since 2008.
Al-Hasan was close to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and hostile to the regime in Syria. He had been tipped to take over as ISF head at the end of this year.
The Intelligence Bureau played a central role in the arrest in August of former minister Samaha, who has close links to Damascus and was charged with planning attacks in Lebanon and transporting explosives in collaboration with Syrian security chief Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk.
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