Airport scandal: Hizbullah was monitoring officials using airport

Security officials confirmed that Hizbullah placed cameras near runway 17 during a period the airport was being used by Saad Hariri, Fouad Siniora and the defense ministers of Lebanon and Spain.

According to communications between the defense minister and the army’s intelligence service and published by An-Nahar, wireless cameras were placed on containers belonging to Hizbullah’s construction company Jihad al-Binaa.

Details follow:

According to a memo from the army’s intelligence, an army patrol noticed the presence of a new container placed on top of another on April 23. Two days later, the patrol saw an opening in one of the side of the containers. On the morning of the 26th, an officer inspected the opening, and suspected that it was a camera. The army patrol filed a report to the head of airport security (which answers to the pro-Hizbullah General Security department), Wafiq Choukair at the airport twice, the first time on the 23rd and the second time on the 26th.

According to the memo, Choukair promised to deal with the problem. On the 28th, however, the army saw three individuals in civilian uniform near the containers, with one of them removing a camera from the container.

In his response to the army’s intelligence memo, Defense Minister Elias El Murr berated the army’s intelligence for not reporting the above activities to the civilian leadership or the judiciary, especially that they occurred during the same period the runway and airport were being used by Saad Hariri, Elias Murr, Fouad Siniora and the Spanish defense minister.

Murr asked why the army did not detain the individuals who removed the camera, and why they neglected to mention in their memo that the army also confiscated a Vertex wireless device. Murr said this issue constitutes a threat to national security since runway 17 is used for take-offs, and overlooks the private jets hangars (including Hariri’s), the airforce base, and the VIP visitors building.

The pro-Hizbullah airport security responded to Murr, claiming that upon learning about the issue, they contacted Hizbullah to clarify the matter and learned that the containers belonged to Jihad al-Binaa, which installed security cameras to “prevent thefts” and protect Hizbullah property in an area that is not part of the airport!   

With Murr reportedly referring this matter to the prosecutor general, Jumblatt today accused airport security of following orders from Hizbullah. He said scanners and measures put in place to implement UNSC 1701 are worthless as long as the airport is under the complete control of Hizbullah security official Wafiq Safa, who, according to Jumblatt, dictates the movements of the Lebanese army and security forces there.

"The containers near the airport must be removed, the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon must be expelled from Beirut and Iranian planes must be banned from landing in Lebanon," Jumblatt said.

Jumblatt said monitoring the airport could lead to kidnappings or assassinations of Lebanese or non-Lebanese officials on the airport road or on the runway 17.

During his second press conference on the issue in two days, Jumblatt showed a map of what he said was Hizbullah's extensive telecommunication network in the country, which he said extends from Beirut to the south, Bekaa and even Syria. He said new lines are being planned for the area connecting Kesrouane and Jbeil. 

He said areas that are not under the state’s control (such as Hibzullah’s) have become reservoirs for booby-trapped cars, adding that these areas enable “them” to dispatch a booby-trapped car to kill any security or political figure. “It was not a coincidence that [ISF CT chief] Wissam Eid was assassinated along the Chevrolet road [close to the suburb], who apparently was a key figure in the Hariri investigation, and is said to have been able to monitor the communications of some of the illegal parties.”

Jumblatt predicted that there will not be an election on May 13, and that there will instead be some “pre-emptive” action to make sure it will not take place.

"I am not afraid of anything but I am stating this information before they kill me or Saad Hariri", he said.

Update. Prosecutor General Said Mirza has launched an investigation.

Comments

[ghassan karam]

When would it become clear that the state should not appease illegal, criminal, unpatriotic, destructive outlaws. When it does it only invites them to ratchet their challenge. The state has the obligation to implement the laws equally and when the offenders refuse to be subject to the laws of the land then they would have declared themselves openly to be above the law and would have become clearly rebels and mutineers bent on the destruction of civil authority. But I must emphasize again that the failure of the current cabinet to govern is just as big of a failure as the illegitimate and abhorrent acts of HA and its allies. I am not blaming the victim but merely suggesting that acquiescence is , in the final analysis, complicity whether intended or not.

[JoseyWales]

Saeed Mirza and Jean Fahed, Wow!

How are we supposed to feel when the two morons in question get their names in the paper every time someone is killed and NOTHING ever happens! Not even a frigging follow-up God damn press conference to tell us : Nothing happened. Does anyone even know what these idiots look like?

Why is Jumblatt doing these press briefings? Where the hell is Murr Jr or the Interior fuck whoever he may today?

I said it before, Jamil Sayyed from his prison cell gives more press conferences a week than the whole Saniora frigging gvmnt.

Lastly, Jumblatt is right on everything but how about FIRING Jezzini over at Surete for the LACK of security in the country, and for his son abusing his Dad' office at Crystal, and for disobeying superiors?

[VOR]

As long as the legal authorities continue to give HA a free pass because they want to avoid confrontation, then this arrogant and illegal behavior will continue. HA's disregard for the state is becoming all the more evident and the more these illegal activities persist with impunity, it will only make things worse. What good is it to talk about state authority when such authority is not enforced? You might as well pack up and go home.

[Charlie]

The message from HA has always been a simple one: you want Lebanon then come
and get it! And so far neither M14 nor their government has shown the will or the stomach to go and take it. So, HA is more than happy to continue with their unimpeded growth; HA is simply taking the path of least resistance.

[Bad Vilbel]

Someone explain to me why the government can't fire Kamal Safa, for starters.

And secondly. I guess Jumblatt is not the nut people made him out to be when this story first broke.

Thirdly: They launched an investigation? Woopdeedoo. Add it to the stack of ongoing investigations that never went anywhere.

And people still try to tell me that we have to "bring HA into the fold." Hah!

[Bad Vilbel]

VOR, Ghassan,

This was my point in yesterday's discussion about having to use force against HA (re the "partition" discussion). Short of confronting these guys with some sort of force (be it a civil war, or a forcible partition), there is simply no end in sight to this behavior. These guys aren't going to stop being above the law just because we ask them nicely. No matter what concessions they were to get.

[Jeha]

It makes no sense; the airport security is in their pocket, and so is customs, and the armed forces' logistics. So why install containers outside the airport? The same services are provided free of charge by the Lebanese taxpayer.

[ghassan karam]

BV
No one ever suggested that government cannot use force. Just the opposite, most are asking the government to do whatever it takes to governby enforcing the laws equally. The only "disagreement" that arose yesterday , as far as I can recall, was whether walking away and partitioning was the way out of this mess. You supported that option and I didn't.

Jeha
I think that Jumblat and others have known about these contaoners and cameras for a long time but were waiting to use this information at an appropriate moment. Note that HA's response was not to deny the presence of cameras but to attack WJ for having appointed himself as the "guardian" of the Lebanese people :-) I am tempted to say "Pox on both of their houses" but can we have slightly more pox on HA :-)

[Jeha]

GK,

I would like to point out that Pox does not infect itself.

[Bad Vilbel]

Ghassan,

Enforcing the rule of law, when it comes to a state within a state, pretty much means arresting one third of your population (roughly estimating here the Shia/HA constituency). How do you reconcile that with your worldview?

I'm all for enforcing the law equally and on everyone. But when the side dissenting to said law is essentially a state within a state, the only way to tackle it is a civil war and/or partition. Lebanon is DE FACTO partitioned already. That's been my whole point. There already is a HA-State. Regaining control over that "other state" can only be accomplished by "invading it" (like a conventional war between 2 states would be). And we both agree that there is no way the "M14 Lebanon" state has the ability to invade and subdue the "other Lebanon" right now.

So this whole discussion is really moot.

Which brings me back to partition. I know most Lebanese hate to admit they even entertain that idea. It's certainly not what anyone wants to hear. It's the ultimate insult and negation of the pipe dream that there ever was a free and independent and unified Lebanon. And it's the logical outcome to the failed state that we both know Lebanon is.

[Jeha]

BV,

I am not arguing whether we can find an accommodation with the Nazi Party NT. But I think Partitioning away from "them" is not feasible. I can point out many reasons, chiefly that this is no "them" there, and that we're all essentially the same camel jockeys when the Israelis and Syrians will come to bomb us again...

My point is more "technical".

Partition will not be something like Czechoslovakia.

Factor in the past "partition" that we had in 75-90, and think how Bosnia "improved" on us. The warlords learned from the past, and will surely "improve" on the old concept, back when alliances were made and broken, and people from the wrong side of the book were "ethnically cleansed".

And it is because of this witches brew that I agree with GK on the need to enforce existing laws with no delay. We have NO CHOICE the rule of LAW. Otherwise, we're going to be dragged down the road to perdition, and we'll end up killing one another for our respective Banthoustans.

[VOR]

BV,

Actually, both options are bad. But I guess in the event where everything is so messed up as it is today in Lebanon, we need to entertain the lesser of two eveils. While I am against the idea of partition, and you are right in mentioning that about 1/3 of the population would be isolated, it is important to remember, that if HA refuses to abide by the laws of the state then perhaps it has already committed itself to part ways one way or another with the rest of Lebanon, and as such your argument has much validity.

[Bad Vilbel]

i think VOR is the only one here who's getting my point.
I'm not a fan of partition for the sake of partition. I'm not a fan of it because i hate this sect or that. I'm certainly not arguing that other sects or sides have their own cantons. That idea has been tried before and failed miserably.

My point is that when you guys say "We must enforce the rule of law", what you really mean is "we're going to have a civil war". The simple fact of the matter that I've argued before is that HA is not a small gang of criminals (Fath Al Islam) that the army can take on. HA is a third of the country, and is, for all intents and purposes, an entire community. Like it or not, HA has hijacked the Shia community. Enforcing the rule of law against one third of your populace, who, for all intents and purposes has already partitioned themselves from you (they have borders, they have their own state that they answer to, and their own territory into which the army or other law enforcement agencies are not allowed) is essentially an INVASION.

When you guys use the terms "enforcing the rule of law", you picture that translating into arresting law-breakers, the way the Police would arrest someone disturbing the peace in downtown Los Angeles. Well, that's not how it translates in Lebanon. The only way to "enforce the rule of law" in what is essentially HA-land, is to invade it the way one state invades another, including subjugating a hostile populace.

Jeha, you and Ghassan know all too well that "enforcing the rule of law" is my number one pet peeve. So in theory, I'm absolutely in agreement with you guys. The law must reign supreme for any state to function. But again, in our current situation, "enforcing the rule of law" is NOT what you guys think. It's not as easy as arresting criminals, or taking on the mafia. It's tantamount to a state vs. state conflict, for the simple fact that we've already allowed HA to form their own state. At this point, the only option is to invade that "State". THAT is what "enforcing the rule of law" really means in this case.

So either you take on the toll of a state vs. state conflict (US invading Iraq, or Israel occupying the Palestinians is the model i'm picturing here, complete with resistance, suicide bombers) or you unilaterally let them have their state (much like Israel did with Gaza, kinda).

I think you guys are thinking of this in the wrong paradigm. You're still viewing HA is "one of us", as a criminal gang that can be brought to justice by a superior law enforcement agency. That is not the case. HA already has its own state. It just so happens that Lebanon has "Territorial and legal" claims on that state. So we can either invade, or renounce those claims and let them keep their state. Think of it that way.

[ADF]

BV, in any case, you're assuming that HA would welcome, or at least accept, this idea (partition). They know very well that the minute they (officially) have their state, i.e., Lebanon and "HA-state" are 2 diferent geopolitical entities, nothing stops israel to bomb every inch of it 24/7.

They need us as "human cover" and they know it, so I don't think they would give up the rest of the country easily...

After all, why stop now, when the "State Resistence" is NULL ?

[JoseyWales]

ADF says: "HA-state" are 2 diferent geopolitical entities, nothing stops israel to bomb every inch of it 24/7.

Precisely the point of partition. Right now HA has all the perks of partition without any of the responsibility.

Partition will force them to take responsibility for whatever happens (war. econmoy, state of schools...).

That responsibility , and once the Shia community is focused onto itself, as opposed to feeling threatened by Saniora (what a joke), the community will be forced to have a debate it has been been ducking forever.

[The other communities also have their head in the sand on related issues.]

The other plus is that Nabih Berri will finally have no role to play anymore, on either frigging side of partition. Better yet, maybe we can have him quartered with 2/4 equal parts sent to the 2 sides.

BV is right there's no imposing the rule of law on 1/3 of the pop that considers you illegitimate. M14 can't handle Qandil or Suleiman Frangieh's thugs which show a total lack of will

Furthermore to establish rule of law here you need to prep the terrain and lead by example on your side first, none of which is forthcoming.

[LebExile]

Bad Vibel,

You give Hiz too much credit. I can assure you that when the state begins to assert itself, when the army "invades" as you put it, alot - maybe not all - shia will side with the army. They have had enough of hiz as the rest of the Lebanese, but, like you said, they are currently held hostage, and until someone comes to free them, they're not gonna move on their own. In addition to this, many men in the rank and file in the army are shia - these guys hate hiz just as much as you and I and they are just itching to finish with them!

You are making the Hiz out to be some sort of massive boogey man who no one can go near, they are not as strong as you would make them out to be. I say that once Israel begins round 2 - which will happen very soon, the lebanese state should make a condition of a ceasefire be that Hiz give up their weapons..... and let them go on resisting until they do - while Israel is pulverising them!

[Jeha]

BV,

My point is simpler; impose the rule of law, and let the chips fall where they may. Whoever will oppose the law will not be counted as "one of us" anymore; let's not give them more credit than they deserve.

And if it means a civil war, then it was meant to be.

[Bad Vilbel]

Josey gets what I'm saying and why I think partition is the only way to have the shia community have that internal debate they need to have before they can forego HA.

Jeha,

HOW do you impose the rule of law on 1/3 of the populace? I still don't get what you guys are suggesting. Send the army into Dahieh to arrest every single person who's breaking the law?

LebExile,

I have seen no evidence that the majority of the shia community would foresake HA and support the army. None whatsoever. Everything I've seen and heard points to the exact opposite, actually. I sort of wish you're right and that I'm proven wrong someday. But I just don't see it. The shia community has not gotten over its suspicion of the central government (and the army and ISF are seen as part of that) and are still living in a fantasy world of conspiracy theories (which to me, means they're living in denial and pushing back the moment where they have to take a good long look at themselves).

[VOR]

From the latest developments, it looks like HA is warning that their illegal comunications network is untouchable and that it is an integral part of their "resistance". HA is now making it clear that this network is linked to their massive stockpile of weapons which has been off limits to everyone in Lebanon.

[JoseyWales]

Only the Shia community can dump/reform/weaken Hezbo and like BV, other than a few very lonely voices, I see no evidence of significant dissent.

Putting dissent at 10% is generous, as I see many from the US community that are westernized and live abroad, and are planning their kids future here etc. Most are either rabid Hezbo supporters or extremely sympathetic to Hezbo (with laughable reservations).

It is apparent now that ONLY EVENTS AND CONSEQUENCES will change people minds. Dialogue is long dead.

Furthermore, M14 has failed miserably to engage the non-Hezbo Shia. You know I think Saniora is a zero and Saad is a double-zero.

The presence of Berri as Speaker was meant to narrow the gap to the Shia community and act as a moderating force on Hezbo (huge mistake). The Aoun-Hezbo alliance initially held hopes of an alliance that could also moderate Hezbo on some issues (like war and respect of army, security). It was not to be.

Those are are the FACTS. The rest is commentary. Why is not important anymore (leadership failures left and right, intransigent Hezbo and Syria and Iran, demented Lebanese people etc).

Lebanon has reached a dead end. M14-gvmnt-non-Hezbo-Shia are just twisting in the wind.

For those who need their daily dose of optimism-bullshit: Sfeir is visiting the US, and Mussa says it's time to resolve the crisis.

[JoseyWales]

As an aside to why the (untried) PR war is lost by M14. Here's Nadim Shehadi quoted on Naharnet in a piece on Lebanon's Martyrs:

QUOTE: "Nadim Shehadi, a Lebanon expert at London's Royal Institute of International Affairs, said "the issue of martyrdom and death is part of the political and ideological debate in the country.

"You have one view that wants to get out of violence and has a vision of Lebanon as a Riviera where people are decadent and carefree, and another view of Lebanon as more of a bunker and a place of resistance to the United States and Israel.END OF QUOTE

God Damn hell, if the choice is between "siliconed airhead bikinied sluts cavorting in a Saudi Disneyland" versus "noble resistance to 'evil'", most of us here will have a hard time picking the side of M-stupid-14.

[ghassan karam]

JW,
I am not trying to split hairs or start an esoteric discussion but I must take strong issue with your last post on at least two grounds:

(1) I doubt the veracity of the quote in Naharnet attributed to Mr. Shehadi and in particular to the word decadent. If you visit his original article that was written by the way in 2006 you will find out that the charachterization of one option as decadent is absent. Decadence after all is in the eye of the beholder.

(2) The option of having Lebanon as a modern, democratic and prosperous tourist oasis, a Middle Eastern Monaco/Riviera or a Middle Eastern Miami/Las vegas is not that far fetched. I do not see what else you would want Lebanon to be. A country that has a small domestic market and very few natural resources does not have much of an option besides making use of its comparative advantage i.e. topography, climate and human capital. If that is not an acceptable trade off to violence, continous war, theocracy and closed societythen I do not know what is.
The problem with March 14 ie much more elemental. They want to build a modern, democracy but they want to anchor it on the current feudal relationships. Their new Lebanon is one that is democratic only from the outside. They cannot govern and they do not have the political courage or the wisdom to see that a new Lebanon requires new foundations, foundations that are to be anchoredon a completely new social structure that is non sectarian and non feudal in charachter.

[Doha]

Isn't it a well known fact that HA (along with the Syrian intelligence apparaturs) gets a list of all passengers entering the airport in Beirut? They probably still do.

The problem really is about divided loyalties. This is how it goes in Lebanon, if Berri for example helps to hire me in the civil service, then I'll be loyal to him to the bone, not loyal to the Lebanese state. How do you even begin to undo this entrenched phenomenon?

[JoseyWales]

Gus,

I'll trust you on Shehadi and it would not be the first time Naharnet does a lousy job (though they did put his statement between quotation marks, maybe Ms Lev can enlighten us since Shehadi posts there or used to??).

My point though is that the M14 vs M8 alternatives are often portrayed like that, (images of people praying or hijabed women vs bikini clad girls doing some stupid fashion show), thanks again to the terrible PR job of M14.

The contrast should peace, jobs and prosperity versus destruction and a backward view of the world, not those tired "decadent" cliches.

"Decadent", "playground for the rich and sex obsessed" etc is a PR negative and is NOT what most Lebanese want.

Sure tourism needs to be promoted but for the SAKE of jobs prosperity, a future, stability etc, not for the sake of the tourists and Saudis.

Also, it's smarter to play up the other things we have (had?) a comparative advantage in: medical care and education.

Thinking back on the "Badna N'3eesh" campaign, I think it should have gone further and talked about what kind of nation and what kind of future "we" are aiming to build and about the security of our children etc...

I know that campaign mentioned other things, but the focus on "Badna N'3eesh" sounds like "we don't want no trouble mister" and "we don't want to deal with tough issues" and "we just want to have fun" (all score points for Hezbo).

[Solomon2]

"Once the Shia community is focused onto itself, as opposed to feeling threatened by Saniora (what a joke), the community will be forced to have a debate it has been been ducking forever."

"I think partition is the only way to have the shia community have that internal debate they need to have before they can forego HA."

I doubt it. In Nazi Germany - the conscious model of the Iranian mullahs - open debate between factions was impossible because thought control was present at the boundary of discussions - push the boundaries and you'd end up in a concentration camp and eventually dead, with at best a poster extolling your passing as a Nazi "hero" commissioned by the cynical regime.

Lebanon doesn't need a civil war or an external war. Lebanon needs a RESCUE MISSION to aid it at eliminating a nascent tyranny. Not for the first time!

[Bad Vilbel]

Solomon,

I don't really know what you mean by "rescue mission". The only people who can truly rescue Lebanon are the Lebanese themselves.

[Solomon2]

BV: like East Timor. When both the government and the U.N. are publicly and forcefully determined to do the job, there may be armed clashes with the die-hards, but no civil war.

[Bad Vilbel]

That's what I was talking about when I said "partition".
Remember, East Timor partitioned from Indonesia under a UN mandate.
And yes, there was something of a civil war at the time (albeit not a huge one, by current standards).

But again, for that to happen, you need the Lebanese people (the non-HA ones) to stop living in denial about the state of affairs. I am constantly amazed at how far we Lebanese seem to go to avoid admitting we've failed as a state.

A great example of this is the discussion I've been having with Charles Malik over at http://lebop.blogspot.com/ (it's worth a read). There seems to still be this sense that "we should avoid civil war" and that everything must be tried to bring HA back into the fold (to which I argue that everything's already been tried).

It seems like a bit of a circular argument, these days. And we've seen a similar discussion here in my previous comments about partition. People keep saying "enforce the rule of law". "We can't go to war against 1/3 of the population", or "Make them part of the solution". And i frankly think people are completely deluding themselves about all this.