Mashnouq: Truth in al-Hassan's Case Imminent, We Refuse to be 'Sahwa Leaders'
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Saturday announced that authorities are about to unveil the “truth” in the case of the 2012 assassination of General Wissam al-Hassan, the then commander of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau.
“We are on the verge of unveiling the truth behind the assassination of Maj. Gen. al-Hassan and it will be announced at the appropriate time and I'm responsible for my words,” Mashnouq said at a ceremony commemorating the second anniversary of al-Hassan's assassination.
The general was killed in a massive car bombing in Ashrafieh on October 19, 2012. Seven other people including his driver also died and nearly eighty people were wounded in the huge blast.
“He is the martyr of the state -- the state that he competently worked to consolidate its institutions,” Mashnouq said at the ceremony.
“We want to protect Lebanon and the Lebanese from the (regional) earthquakes and blazes in order to protect the martyrdom of Wissam al-Hassan and all the martyrs,” the minister stressed.
Turning to the domestic political scene, Mashnouq stressed that the leaders of his political movement will not accept that they be turned into "Sahwa leaders."
He was referring to the Sahwa network of Sunni tribal fighters created by the U.S. in 2005-2006 to combat al-Qaida in Iraq. Sunni tribes are now also contributing to the fight against the ruthless Islamic State jihadist group which has seized vast swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory.
“We won't accept that we be turned into Sahwa leaders specialized in imposing security on a part of the Lebanese as the other part enjoys 'partisan immunity',” Mashnouq said, in an apparent reference to Hizbullah.
“There can't be security without consensus and there can't be stability without justice,” he stressed.
Commenting on the affairs of the unity cabinet, Mashnouq added: “I'm at the vanguard of those who seek to avoid stirring thorny debates in the cabinet but the controversial files are accumulating and we're trying to avert their 'explosion' inside the council of ministers.”
He also warned that some parties are “trying to blow up these issues outside the cabinet.”
“We have devised a complete security plan that provides the conditions for security in Lebanon and the security forces will be partners with the army in combating terrorism,” the minister added.
In August, Syria-based jihadist groups overran the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, sparking clashes with the military that left dozens dead.
The retreating jihadists took with them some 30 Lebanese police and troops as hostages, and have since executed three.
Hizbullah for its part has recently repelled a deadly militant assault on its posts along the Syrian-Lebanese border and clashes are still raging in the Syrian border region of Qalamun.
Y.R.
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