Lebanon denied a report Monday that nine had been arrested in a plot to kill Hizbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, but confirmed the men had been detained for planning an attack “against the state.” “The plans of the arrested did not include the assassination of Nasrallah,” a judiciary official said, on condition of anonymity.
| "It was... ummm... somebody else." |
In its article, As-Safir cited security sources who said that the assassination of the head of the armed Shiite party was planned for April 28 when Nasrallah was due to attend Lebanon's ongoing national dialogue. Lebanon's military intelligence service broke the network last week, it added. The group “had been tracking Nasrallah's movements for March and April and had put in place a thorough plan to assassinate Nasrallah during the next meeting of the national dialogue.” The attack would have been involved firing anti-tank rockets at the Hizbollah chief's vehicle convoy as Nasrallah made his way to the talks.
| Not the usual car bomb, huh? |
The national dialogue, bringing together factions across Lebanon's political spectrum, started meeting in March with the aim of healing national divisions and tackling sensitive issues like the continued existence of Hizbollah's armed wing. Hizbollah had no comment on the newspaper report. The security sources told As-Safir the group had a sophisticated structured and had received “advanced training in weapons handling.” The paper gave no information about the cell's affiliation or motivations.