The report said that Hizbullah, Amal and other pro-Syrian groups were in close contact and coordination relating to a plan to take control of Beirut, the road to the south of the city, and neutralizing Christian and Sunni areas. The sources said that the groups were already plotting zones of who would control which areas, in a day-after scenario.
Hattit concluded that "if this scenario does take place, Hizbullah would be able to seize power in three days, or a week at most," and that the "era of Hariri in Lebanon" would end forever.
via jpost.com
Here's the latest from Naharnet:The Syrian-backed Opposition reportedly plans to take control of Beirut in the event an indictment by the international Tribunal was issued.Pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Tuesday quoted a well-informed Lebanese source as saying reports were being circulated among Lebanese security authorities that Hizbullah and AMAL Movement as well as other forces allied with Syria have been holding extensive, periodic meetings to discuss "coordination" in the presumed battle for the control of Beirut.It said the meetings discussed "zoning" of the areas such as each group will have its own confrontation zero hour map.
via elderofziyon.blogspot.com
It's been five years since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister and billionaire Rafik Hariri by a truck bomb in downtown Beirut. In the aftermath, a United Nations tribunal has puttered and sputtered but finally appears poised to hand down indictments, which could explode the combustible Lebanese political scene, perhaps, new reports suggest, even leading to a Hezbollah coup.
All signs point to a high level of Syrian involvement in the hit, which killed 22 others along with Hariri. In late 2005, Syria's top intelligence officer in Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, "killed himself" (many believe he was either killed or ordered to carry out the suicide) after he was questioned by a U.N. investigator. However, Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, who is now Lebanon's prime minister, has already acquitted Syrian President Bashar Assad in statements that recall an earlier act of supplication -- when Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt forgave Syrian President Hafez Assad (Bashir's late father) for killing his father, Kamal Jumblatt.
But if Syria is let off the hook -- as appears likely -- that still leaves Hezbollah, the civil-war era Shiite militia group that has morphed into the country's strongest political party and a proxy warrior (for Iran and Syria) against Israel. Hezbollah is planning a coup if its members are charged in the assassination, according to a report in the Arabic international newspaper Asharq Alawsat, which was picked up by Haaretz, an Israeli daily.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Nasrallah has called on Lebanese not to cooperate with U.N. investigators, since reports last year that the investigation was likely to indict several Hezbollah members.
via aolnews.com
Investigators Violently Attacked in Lebanon While Probing 2005 Hariri Assassination The investigators were "unexpectedly and violently attacked" by a group of angry, screaming "women wearing niqabs and veils". It is also believed that "men in women’s garb among them."
(CNSNews.com) – An attack on international investigators probing the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri is seen as part of a campaign by Hezbollah to obstruct the inquiry before it indicts members of the Shi’ite terrorist group.
The controversy surrounding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has sparked fears that Lebanon’s fragile U.S.-backed government could collapse, and that a fresh outbreak of Shi’ite-Sunni violence could allow Hezbollah to tighten its grip on the small country, with serious implications for the wider region.
The United States and France, two of the Western countries most heavily invested in Lebanon’s stability, have reiterated their support for the politically explosive investigation, which Hezbollah and Syria actively are trying to sabotage.
Two STL investigators accompanied by a Lebanese interpreter were attacked Wednesday by scores of screaming women as they sought medical records at a clinic in a Hezbollah-controlled suburb of south Beirut.
Lebanon’s Murr Television reported that the group included women wearing niqabs and veils, and that there were likely men in women’s garb among them.
The Hague-based STL said in a statement that “a large group of people showed up unexpectedly and violently attacked the investigators and their female interpreter.”
“The Lebanese army extracted the three staff members and brought them back safely to the STL Beirut Office where they were provided with medical attention,” it said, adding that the violence would not deter the tribunal from its mission.
During the melee, a briefcase belonging to one of the team was snatched. The tribunal did not say what documents it contained.
A senior member of Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s March 14 alliance, Farid Makari, issued a statement saying the “method of using ordinary people” to carry out such attacks was a “registered trademark” of Hezbollah.
More... pucker up!
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Asked if Cameron had expressed any fears regarding the repercussions of the indictment of the STL, Hariri answered: "We did not tackle this issue.
