The
death of senior Lebanese Intelligence official, Wissam al Hassan, looks as
though it was a meticulously planned assassination to weaken the anti-Assad
movement. Hassan was close to Saad Hariri, the leader of the
Lebanese opposition and hostile to the regime in Syria. He had been tipped to
take over as ISF head - a Sunni dominated arm of the security apparatus
supported by SA, Turkey and Qatar – that has been directly involved in logistical
support to the Free Syrian Army. Al-Hassan was
pivotal in the Internal Security Forces' Aug. 9 arrest of former
Lebanese Information Minister Michel Samaha, a close ally of al Assad,
over alleged involvement in a bomb plot commissioned by Damascus. He was also
reportedly close to former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, Saad's father, and
took part in the investigation into Rafik al-Hariri's 2005 assassination, which
implicated Syria and Hezbollah.
The
attack in Sassine Square was likely intended to emulate the modus operandi of
Salafist Jihadists; an obvious subterfuge given extremists have been moving
into the Levant in recent months. Blaming Jihadists would give the Assad-regime
a certain amount of deniability whilst stirring up tensions and possible
retaliatory violence against Syrian-aligned figures in Lebanon. However it's
unlikely that Al-Hassan supporters will believe that Jihadists were
responsible. That said it may be too soon to determine which group was
responsible for the attack, yet all the markers point towards Damascus with an
intent to shift the strategic focus away from its central nucleus and weaken
FSA supply lines into Syria.
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