Intelligence Briefs: Lebanon

Bomb attack against pro-Syrian officer foiled
5 December 2000

Security forces defused an explosive device outside the home of Brigadier Joseph Loqsh, a former army officer and current member of the Higher Syrian-Lebanese Council. A grenade was found connected to the car alarm of a vehicle belonging to Loqsh's son Ziad outside their home in Hawsh al-Omara, Bekaa. Authorities are investigating the incident.

LU professors condemn political clientalism in educational system
6 December 2000

Professors at the state-run Lebanese University held a strike today to protest the regime's practice of appointing university officials on the basis of political and religious affiliations rather than merit. LU has not had a president or council for over five months due to political infighting among various pro-Syrian members of the government. "The Cabinet�s continuing delay in appointing a new president and council for the university is a result of the political struggle between government officials," said Ata Jabbour, the acting president. The position of university president has traditionally gone to a Shi'ite affiliated with the Amal movement of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Bahij Rahban, the head of the LU Professors' League warned that future strikes will be held if a qualified person is not appointed soon.

New Internal Security chief appointed
6 December 2000

The Lebanese cabinet appointed 53-year-old Brigadier Marwan Zein of Tripoli as director-general of the Internal Security Forces. Zein will assume his new position on January 1, succeeding Major-General Abdel-Karim Ibrahim, who has held the post since December 1998.

Journalist arrested for criticizing Syrian intelligence
8 December 2000

Jamil al-Sayyid

A Lebanese journalist was detained today after a lengthy interrogation by security officials, who accused him of writing an article considered "harmful to Lebanese-Syrian relations." Adnan Shaaban, a writer for Al-Nahar (Beirut), was arrested in response to an article published on December 5 in which he criticized the head of Syrian military intelligence in Beirut, Rustom Ghazaleh, and Lebanese security chiefs, who he said "receive orders that they consider sacred and are accountable to him, rather than to their national authority." This reportedly raised the ire of Jamil al-Sayyid, the head of Lebanon's General Security Directorate, who sent a memorandum to General-Prosecutor Adnan Addoum requesting that the journalist be taken into custody. be interrogated. Addoum issued summons against Shaaban and An-Nahar�s editor and director. Shaaban faces a possible prison term of six to 12 months if he is brought to trial and convicted.

Damascus concerned about Lahoud Jr.
15 December 2000

Al-Watan al-Arabi reported today that authorities in Damascus are upset with President Emile Lahoud because of recent political activities by his son, MP Emile Lahhoud, Jr. The younger Lahoud recently attended a memorial service commemorating the assassination of the late President-elect Bashir Gemayel in 1982. The paper also said that Lahoud Jr. had expressed his support in private gatherings for Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butrous Sfeir's demand for a Syrian troop redeployment.

New anti-Syrian radio broadcasts heard in Lebanon
23 December 2000

Sources in Lebanon report that a new radio station calling itself "The Experimental Radio from the Mediterranean Basin" (al-idha'ah al-tajribiyah min hawd al-mutawassit) began broadcasting from northern Israel today on the 756 kHz mediumwave frequency (the same frequency previously used by the SLA radio station "Voice of the South," formerly based at Kfar Killa in south Lebanon). The broadcasts included commentary criticizing the Lebanese regime, the Syrian occupation and the activities of Palestinian militant groups in the country. Between political broadcasts, the station plays popular Lebanese songs.

Hezbollah raising funds in Canada
25 December 2000

Canadian immigration authorities said today that the militant Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah has received money to sponsor its activities from organized crime in Canada. Much of these funds were being raised through charitable donations that claimed to support hospitals, schools and orphanages. Hezbollah activities in Canada were highly publicized in the early 1990's, when a former member of the group told authorities about a sophisticated Hezbollah terrorist network in the country that was planning to launch attacks on the US.