Mideast Wire

On May 6, the pro-government Hariri-owned Al-Mustaqbal daily carried the following report by Fares Khashan: “A month ago, Lebanese officials tried to contain the issue of the telephone communication network that was established by Hezbollah throughout Lebanon with direct funding from the Iranian Islamic Republic. However, the party refused to cooperate with this official effort and warned the figures assigned to follow up on the issue against addressing the topic “because we will consider anyone who harms this network as though he had harmed the arms of the resistance and will therefore deal with him as we deal with the Zionist enemy”.

“In light of this answer provided by Nawaf al-Mussawi and Wafiq Safa to General Ashraf Rifi and General George Khoury, the boastfulness of the militia which calls itself a party (Hezbollah is not one of the associations that are licensed in Lebanon) escalated and the pace of its actions increased to the point where it connected its private telephone network - that is parallel to that of the state and completely separated from it - to the special communication network of the Syrian army and the Syrian mobile network that has started to expand once again inside the Lebanese territories.

“This means that the Syrian regime is occupying Lebanon at the level of telephones through Hezbollah, in what is allowing it and its intelligence bodies to move inside Lebanon without being subjected to the control of the Lebanese state... One of the reasons behind the connection of this network to that of the Syrian army, is probably what was revealed by the Lebanese investigations conducted by martyr officer Wissam Eid at the level of many assassinations perpetrated in Lebanon, since he tracked down the assassination networks based on the phone calls between their elements, one of which seemed to be connected to Hezbollah. It was therefore concealed from the Lebanese justice and the international investigation committee was prevented from gaining access to it in an easy way.

“If the works in progress to establish Hezbollah’s private telephone network is tracked, observers will discover that the pace grew faster following the assassination of officer Eid in Chevrolet [a Beirut area]. This would allow us to conclude that two operations were conducted at the same time to serve the same purpose. The first was related to the attempt to erase the records of the past by getting rid of Eid in a qualitative assassination operation, while the second aimed to find an action ground that is protected from the investigations in order to secure the circumstances allowing the elements of the murderer network to monitor [their target] and implement [their operations]…

“This means that Lebanon is more exposed than ever and the cessation of the assassination operations following the targeting of officer Eid is only temporary, and will be resumed as soon as Hezbollah provides a safe communication network for the new assassination networks that have been formed. It therefore wasn’t a coincidence that the Syrian intelligence, in cooperation with the official newspapers of the regime, Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement, and upon the completion of the telephone network in Kesrwan and Jbeil, heightened the moral targeting of numerous Lebanese figures... in what could be considered as prelude for their assassination.

“Hence, there are massive responsibilities that should be assumed regardless of their price. These responsibilities include:

“Firstly, disconnecting Hezbollah’s network from the Syrian network both at the levels of the land-lines and the mobile phone lines...

“Secondly, informing the international investigation committee about the repercussions of this telephone reality on the security of a group of people who could be targeted.

“Thirdly, allowing the civil committees to cut Hezbollah’s phone lines in the regions to protect themselves and the figures residing in them or passing through them.

“Fourthly, connecting this network to a state-owned network and placing it under the supervision of a Lebanese intelligence apparatus.

“Fifthly, giving Hezbollah the choice between ridding the country of its prohibited network or adopting a decision the country considers a prohibited one...” - Al-Mustaqbal, Lebanon