Rifi: Assassination Attempt Was Targeting Hassan
Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi confirmed on Saturday reports of a foiled assassination attempt against security officials, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.
He revealed that head of the ISF’s Information Branch Col. Wissam al-Hassan was the target of the foiled attempt.
He did not provide further details on the manner in which the assassination was going to be executed, saying that the appropriate measures have been taken to tackle the situation.
A plan to assassinate Rifi and Hassan was discovered, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.
Security information obtained by the daily revealed that the Bureau received information of a possible assassination attempt from two sources, which confirmed the credibility of the reports and prompted the security forces to deal firmly with the matter.
The assassination was most likely going to be executed through a car bomb near the ISF headquarters in Ashrafiyeh, said the daily.
It added that there was a higher possibility that Hassan, not Rifi, was going to be targeted.
Al-Liwaa reported on Saturday that “very credible” foreign and internal sources revealed the assassination plot against Rifi or Hassan.
It also said that “due to logistic and political reasons,” the Intelligence Bureau chief was the likely target.
Furthermore, it revealed that the assassination attempt was in its preparation phase.
President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel were all informed of the attempt, said the newspaper.
In addition, it did not rule out the possibility that political figures may have been targets in the assassination.
This is not the first time the media has reported an alleged plot to murder a security official in Lebanon.
Not long ago, Al-Manar television spoke of a plot to assassinate General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.
Captain Wissam Eid, a top communications analyst with the ISF Intelligence Bureau, was assassinated in a January 25, 2008 car bombing outside Beirut.
On December 12, 2007, Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, chief of the army operations directorate, was killed in a car bomb attack in Baabda, along with three other people.
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