Heard today."Big!"
Al Jazeera: "Investigation launched into killing of al Hassan"
Nadim Gemayel: "Bomb was a a preplanned explosion"
Marwan Hamade: "Kick Syrian ambassador out! Our reply will be seismic!"
Saad Hariri: "The one who assassinated Wissam Hasan is as clear as the light of day & I Saad Rafik Bahaa' Hariri, vow not to remain silent over this crime,”
Walid Jumblatt: "We will resist with politics because unlike the Syrian [regime], we do not have criminal security apparatuses,”
Ahmad Hariri: "We call on the Lebanese to stand ready!"
Lebanese adviser (Mohamad Shatah) to WaPo: "“This is a big, big, big, big event, and one cannot begin even to think through the repercussions,”
Timur Goksel: "I hear Wissam returned to Lebanon only yesterday. To track him down in such a short time and so precisely and to prepare the explosives is top notch professionalism and also smells of an inside leak about his movements always extremely protected. In these parts, only three outfits can pull this one: the Syrian Muhabarat, Hizbullah and Israel. Take your pick."
March 14 Lebanese Leader: "I told him he needs to be careful and he told me I need to be careful, ... We just laughed at each other."The Guardian: "Lebanon is a far more dangerous place without him"
1 comment:
Laura Rozens Al_Monitor article quoting Timor Goskel appears to be gone. Here's the cache copy:
"Posted on October 19, 2012 by Laura Rozen
Who was Wissam al-Hassan, the intelligence chief for Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces, who was reportedly killed in Friday’s bomb blast in Beirut, and why was he targeted?
Timur Goksel, head of Turkish translations for Al-Monitor, previously served as the longtime spokesman and senior advisor for the United Nations UNIFIL mission in Lebanon. Goksel writes:
Wissam Hasan was the top intelligence operator, 100 % affiliated with the Hariris [former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik and Saad Hariri]. He was the only intelligence chief who had strong links to western services who trusted him. He actually introduced amazing reforms to Lebanese security services who were slowly beginning to solve cases. For a while he rounded up many [alleged] Israeli spies [in Lebanon], for which Hizbullah was grateful.
He was deeply involved in the investigation of the [2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq] Hariri, but I don’t think this has anything to do with that. It is most likely linked to his recent coup of arresting a former minister, Michel Samaha, in smuggling explosives from Syria in his own car. Several top notch Syrian names were implicated in the same affair. … Wissam also hurt Hizbullah much.
Today when the blast was first reported I made several TV comments that this is weird because the location–a side street with middle-income old housing–couldn’t be a target.
I hear Wissam returned to Lebanon only yesterday. To track him down in such a short time and so precisely and to prepare the explosives is top notch professionalism and also smells of an inside leak about his movements always extremely protected. In these parts, only three outfits can pull this one: the Syrian Muhabarat, Hizbullah and Israel. Take your pick.
I would dismiss the Israelis, although he damaged their espionage interests here."
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