Lebanon arrests three ex-security officials

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese police arrested three former
top pro-Syrian security officials on Tuesday, a security source
said, in a move believed to be linked to investigations into
the killing of an ex-prime minister.

The source said Jamil al-Sayyed, former chief of the
General Security Directorate, Ali Hajj, ex-head of police, and
Raymond Azar, ex-head of military intelligence, were arrested
in raids at their homes at dawn by police.

It was not immediately clear why the arrests were made but
the three men had been blamed by some Lebanese politicians of
playing a role in the February 14 killing of ex-prime minister

Rafik al-Hariri.

Another source confirmed the arrests of the former security
officials but said former member of parliament Nassir Qandil
had not been arrested as reported earlier. Police raided
Qandil’s home but did not find him, he said.

Several other people were also arrested, the sources said.

They added the chief of the Republican Guard Mustafa
Hamdan, the only remaining pro-Syrian security official still
in his post after parliamentary elections produced an
anti-Syrian majority, was said to be wanted for questioning.

A U.N. team probing the assassination of Hariri is wrapping
up its work and its chief, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, is
expected to report his findings to the Security Council in the
next few weeks.

The killing of Hariri, which many in Lebanon blamed on
Syria, brought mass anti-Syrian demonstrations in Beirut.
Damascus denied its involvement but bowed to world pressure and
pulled out its 14,000 troops from the country in April.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview
published on Sunday Damascus would fully cooperate in the
Hariri murder investigation after Mehlis criticized Syria of
not cooperating with the inquiry.

The three arrested former officers were in their posts when
Hariri was killed. They were blamed for negligence and a role
in the attempted cover-up of the murder.

Sayyed, the former head of the most powerful pro-Syrian
security organs, resigned one day before Syria ended its
military presence in Lebanon in April.