Beirut – Lebanon’s defense minister said Syrian intelligence officials in Lebanon threatened him months before an attempt on his life in a July car bombing, an accusation Syria denied.
The allegation by Elias Murr, who is also deputy prime minister, was the first time that a traditionally pro-Syrian politician in Lebanon has accused Syrian officials of playing a role in the mysterious series of bombings that have occurred in the past year.
Speaking by telephone from Switzerland, where he is recovering from his injuries, Murr told LBC television channel he had decided to speak out because he has “had enough” after a Sunday bombing maimed well-known TV anchorwoman May Chidiac.
Chidiac lost an arm and a leg in an explosion that devastated her car in the coastal town of Jounieh. She hosted political talk shows for LBC, which opposes Syria’s role in Lebanon. Another anti-Syrian journalist and a politician have been killed in the bombings, while an anti-Syrian legislator was wounded in an October bombing.
Murr said that last year, while he was interior minister, he had an argument with Syria’s intelligence chief in Lebanon, Brig. Gen. Rustum Ghazale, after the police had broken a ring of Islamic extremists, including al-Qaeda elements, who had plotted to attack diplomatic missions in Beirut.
Ghazale’s intelligence apparatus then controlled almost every aspect of Lebanese political and military life.
Murr left the Cabinet in October, but in January he got a warning.
Murr did not identify the source of the threat, but the context made clear he was referring to Ghazale.
In April, Murr returned to the Cabinet. A new government was formed as the Syrians withdrew under pressure after former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated.
