Reporter Denies Obtaining Mossad Information on Plot to Assassinate Ibrahim
Julie Abou Araj, an Israeli reporter, denied obtaining information from the Israeli Mossad on an assassination bid targeting General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, questioning the timing of the report hours ahead of Dahr al-Baydar blast.
“I was surprised to read an article attributed to me concerning an alleged document over an assassination bid targeting Ibrahim,” Abou Araj, who is of Lebanese origins and holds the Israeli citizenship since 2000, told An Nahar newspaper in a letter published on Saturday.
The reporter wondered about the source of the “false news,” saying that she didn't publish any report on the matter and has no information about the alleged document's content.
On Friday, An Nahar newspaper said that Abou Araj revealed in an article that an armed group affiliated with the Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades is plotting to target a high-ranking security figure reportedly Ibrahim.
She said in her alleged report that the Mossad received the information through its agents who are operating in Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
However, Abou Araj slammed An Nahar journalist Abbas Saleh, questioning his intentions that compelled him to write such a report which contained “random names.”
She challenged Saleh to “highlight a single proof that validates his claims.”
On Friday, a suicide bombing rocked the Dahr al-Baydar crossing in the eastern Bekaa region shortly before General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim had crossed the area.
The blast killed an officer and wounded several other people.
Abou Araj also lashed out at Lebanese media saying: “despite I am currently in Israel, I remain a Lebanese.”
Saleh's report claimed that the Mossad agents intercepted phone conversations between a terror group in Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp that indicates a huge assassination bid is being plotted.
It said that a booby-trapped car was being prepared inside the camp by Chechen experts to be delivered to a Palestinian delegation that holds routine meetings with Ibrahim, without its knowledge.
The alleged report said that Abdullah Azzam Brigades is seeking to assassinate Ibrahim since the Abra clashes between Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and the army in June 2013.
The 45-year-old cleric who supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, is nowhere to be found along with pop idol Fadel Shaker.
The attack and the fierce clashes left around 18 soldiers and more than 20 gunmen dead.
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