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Syria denies officer threatened Lebanese minister
DAMASCUS - Syria denied on Wednesday accusations by Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Al Murr, once a staunch ally of Damascus, that Syriaâs former intelligence chief in Lebanon had threatened his life. Murr told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that Rustom Ghazali, intelligence chief at the time, had made verbal death threats long before the minister survived a bomb blast that targeted his motorcade in Beirut in July. Murr, speaking from Europe, said he had decided to stay abroad because he did not trust Lebanonâs security agencies to protect him.âMurr is rushing to join the dominant chorus which is throwing accusations at Syria left and right,â said al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece. Al-Thawra and two other state-owned newspapers quoted an official source as dismissing Murrâs charges as âfull of liesâ. The source suggested that Murr was trying to implicate Syria in the killing of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut in February. âThe source voiced astonishment that Mr. Murr took on such a role which was synchronised with the return from Damascus of members of the international team investigating the (Hariri) assassination...â al-Thawra said. Posted by: Steve 2005-09-28 |
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