Harb Meets Qahwaji, Says Investigations on 'Right Track'

Opposition MP Butros Harb stressed on Saturday that he will delay briefing the public about the details on the assassination attempt against him.

“I’ve already said that I will inform the public about the results of the investigation and I thought it would happen on Monday, but the probe requires few additional days to analyze the obtained information,” Harb told reporters after holding talks with Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji at his residence in Hazmieh.

He stated that the investigations are going on in a proper manner.

“The information obtained by the security agencies gives us hope that we’re on the right track to reveal the identities of the offenders,” the lawmaker said.

Asked if the data obtained by Qahwaji coincide with that obtained by Internal Security Forces Chief Ashraf Rifi, he said: “the security agencies are cooperating among each other.”

Harb noted that he’s “incapable yet” of determining the side behind the attempt on his life.

“I have no desire to accuse anyone without making sure, but the general conditions in the country are responsible,” he pointed out.

Qahwaji briefed Harb on the latest developments regarding the investigations, stressing that the army intelligence is cooperating with the ISF to reveal the sides behind his attempted assassination.

Harb called on the state to become more “aware,” urging the politicians to become more patriotic.

He voiced his support to the army and the other security agencies, saying: “They can’t fully carry out their tasks unless the Lebanese people give up the illegal arms.”

Harb escaped an assassination bid on Thursday after residents of a building in which his office is located in the Beirut district of Badaro discovered individuals trying to booby-trap the elevator.

A string of high-level assassinations struck Lebanon between 2004 and 2008, targeting political, media and security figures who vocally opposed the Syrian government, including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who was killed in a powerful car bomb blast in February 2005.