Leaked Document: Hizbullah Intelligence Helped Syrians Assassinate Gebran Tueni

by Naharnet Newsdesk

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/56153

A series of leaked Syrian documents have revealed that Hizbullah was involved in the December 12, 2005 assassination of prominent journalist and MP Gebran Tueni, chairman of the board of directors of An Nahar newspaper, Al-Arabiya television reported on Saturday.

“With the help of members of the intelligence department of Lebanon's Hizbullah, Mission 213, which was assigned to them on December 10, has been successfully accomplished with excellent results,” a document dated December 12, 2005 says.

The document was sent by head of the operations department in the Syrian intelligence, Hasan Abdul Rahman, to then chief of national security department Assef Shawkat, according to Al-Arabiya.

“In concurrence with Assef Shawkat's letter on accomplishing the mission and on the same day the letter was sent to the Syrian presidential palace, a booby-trapped car was awaiting Lebanese lawmaker Gebran Tueni to end his life while on his way to work, in an assassination operation described as mysterious back then,” Al-Arabiya added.

A leaked U.S. Embassy cable dated December 19, 2005 said Syria was likely behind Tueni's assassination in 2005, which was aimed at silencing his caustic remarks against the regime of President Bashar Assad.

The WikiLeaks cable, which was published exclusively in al-Jumhouriya newspaper, added that the assassination was also a message to the Lebanese opposition that “no one can protect them.”