Why would Israel assassinate a courageous security
investigator who dared to reveal Hezbollah and Syria’s crimes? (photo: Haytham
AlMoussawi)
Al-Akhbar responds to allegations of distortion and
fabrication in its report on the assassination of Wissam al-Hassan. A reporter
from the pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat has difficulties believing that
Israel or al-Qaeda could even be potential suspects in Hassan’s
killing.
For instance, in 2010, when Rashed wanted to peddle the claim that Hezbollah
had assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a documentary entitled A
Crime in Beirut, which was produced by none other than his London-based company,
he tried to have it aired on Al-Jazeera and other networks – because he knew “no
one would believe Al-Arabiya.”
On Thursday, November 1, the pan-Arab daily
al-Sharq al-Awsat ran an article by Abdul-Rahman al-Rashed, director of the Saudi-owned
al-Arabiya satellite channel, titled “Hezbollah and Wissam Hassan’s
assassination.”
The
article was written in response to a report
published in Al-Akhbar on 30 October 2012, titled “Wissam al-Hassan: A
Man Who Had Many Enemies.” In his article, Rashed accused this reporter of
having distorted and fabricated information regarding the suspects in Hassan’s
killing.
These were the very same suspects Hassan himself feared were planning
to assassinate him, as he had reportedly stated in private meetings prior to his
death. These suspects included Hezbollah, Syria, Israeli intelligence services, and
al-Qaeda. Of course, Rashed decided to ignore the first two possibilities,
namely Hezbollah and Syria (both were mentioned in Al-Akhbar’s report).
It seems that he was more offended by the possibility that Israel and al-Qaeda
could have been considered possible suspects in the assassination.
Rashed posed a question that many would consider obvious: “Why would Israel
assassinate a courageous security investigator who dared to reveal Hezbollah and
Syria’s crimes?”
But the question is a ridiculous one, and we thought Rashed would never
embarrass himself by asking it. After all, he is a prominent writer in one of
the most-widely read mouthpieces of the House of Saud, a standard bearer of
pro-Wahhabi liberalism in the Arab world. In addition, he runs the second most
frequently watched Arab-language political TV network.
Rashed’s question thus takes us back to square one, or to arguing in defense
of Wissam Hassan. Indeed, his question reflects claims made by hardliners within
Hezbollah and Syria’s camp that Hassan was essentially a tool of the US and
Israel.
These hardliners maintain that the arrests of Israeli spy rings in Lebanon by
the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Information Branch were merely ploys to
polish its image. But this is simply not true. The Information Branch dismantled
a very large number of Israeli spy networks over the past five years, not only
in Lebanon, but also in Syria.
There was a time when Rashed could have asked President Bashar al-Assad about
this himself, when the Saudi columnist was on very friendly terms with the
Syrian president, and would meet with him frequently.
At the time, the Information Branch’s successes, along with those of Lebanese
army intelligence and Hezbollah’s counterespionage unit, dealt a serious blow to
Israeli intelligence services, even though the first few arrests had tipped the
enemy off that its methods in Lebanon and Syria had been exposed.
The officer in charge of handling human sources in the Israeli military
intelligence committed suicide as a result of this major failure, and certainly
not because of anything Saudi intelligence did.
Speaking of Saudi intelligence, Rashed can also ask its senior leaders about
the information gathered so far in the course of the investigation into Hassan’s
assassination. He could even ask Bandar bin Sultan while he’s at it, for Bandar
– the director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency – has a long history of
carrying out assassinations.
In 1985, Bandar’s grudge against the Resistance pushed him to stain his hands
with the blood of innocents in Lebanon when he volunteered to finance the
attempt on the life of Sayyid Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. The failed operation
killed more than 80 civilians in the Beirut neighborhood of Bir al-Abed.
Regarding al-Qaeda’s possible involvement, the director of al-Arabiya
can consult his friends at Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s intelligence services
in Abu Dhabi, which had sent warnings to Hassan at the beginning of this year
about a plan to assassinate a senior officer in the ISF.
The Emiratis designated a
specific area where the assassination would take place, and it happens that this
area covers the location where Hassan was assassinated last month. The UAE
intelligence services even surprised Hassan by mentioning his secret home,
before telling him that their intelligence indicated the plot was going to be
carried out by an al-Qaeda affiliated group based in the Ain al-Helweh
Palestinian refugee camp.
It is not quite clear why Rashed would categorically deny any involvement by
al-Qaeda and its affiliates, unless he believes these groups are the legitimate
offspring of the Saudi regime. There is no question that Rashed wants to
downplay any account that runs contrary to what “His Highness” decided
happened.
For the sake of Rashed’s credibility, we must draw his attention to what the
Director General of the ISF Major General Ashraf Rifi stated in the aftermath of
Hassan’s assassination. Rifi, in the eyes of Rashed, is of course not among
those trying to spread disinformation about the assassination.
Rifi said that there were four possible motives behind the slaying of Hassan:
the arrest of former minister Michel Samaha; the dismantling of the Israeli spy
networks; the arrest of terrorist cells linked to al-Qaeda and its affiliates;
or what Rifi called “a fifth column.”
Ultimately, what is most bizarre about this is that the man who is accusing
us of lying is the director of a television network which, as no doubt he is
aware, lacks any credibility.
For instance, in 2010, when Rashed wanted to peddle the claim that Hezbollah
had assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a documentary entitled A
Crime in Beirut, which was produced by none other than his London-based company,
he tried to have it aired on Al-Jazeera and other networks – because he knew “no
one would believe Al-Arabiya.”
In fact, the words “no one would believe” were the
same ones used by Rashed in the course of what he wrote about Al-Akhbar.
Recall also that Al-Arabiya published in recent weeks hundreds of fabricated documents, which the television network tried
relentlessly to claim were authentic.
One of the allegations contained in these forgeries
was that the Turkish jet was shot down off the Syrian coast by a Grad rocket.
But it seems no one has explained to Rashed and his colleagues at Al-Arabiya,
that downing a jet using a Grad rocket is only slightly less plausible than the
American Civil War urban legend which claimed that Confederate soldiers fired a
rocket from Richmond towards Washington DC – more than 150 km away – and
that the rocket went on to reach outer space.
Hassan Illeik is the Politics editor at Al-Akhbar
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic
Edition.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian 
Uprooted Palestinian 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
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