Aoun Has Been From the Outset Part of the Iranian-Syrian Axis
Former Lebanese Ambassador Johnny Abdo on Tuesday night said he had serious doubts about the news of the arrest of a terrorist cell in North Lebanon, as he had information on an alleged detainee named Hindawi, who admitted that Abed al-Ghani Jawhar had fled to Syria. “Hindawi introduced Jawhar to Syrian intelligence, which then asked him to stop dealing with them as they would deal directly with Jawhar.”
Abdo confirmed that the cell, however, was responsible for the assassination attempt against Army Commander General Jean Kahwaji in northern Lebanon.
In an interview with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) on Tuesday night, Abdo said he was surprised by the reactions of former Prime Minister Omar Karami and former Minister Sleiman Franjieh to Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea’s call for reconciliation. Abdo recalled that Geagea had been a minister in the Karami government alongside Franjieh, who heads the Zgharta-based Marada Movement.
“Read the Syrian Al-Watan newspaper, and you know that reconciliation with Geagea is forbidden,” he added.
Abdo said Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir was “a smart man” who “knows that Christian reconciliation is very difficult because it is associated with Syrian decisions.”
Abdo said he was surprised by the rampant criticism of Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun’s visit to Iran earlier this month. “Aoun has been from the outset part of the Iranian-Syrian axis – why criticize it when proved?”
Abdo said that Aoun was aware that his choices would lead to losing the 2009 parliamentary elections, “and therefore he is working to make Christians choose between himself and the image of a militant Geagea.”
“Therefore, March 14 must lead the elections according to a clear national program,” he added.
Abdo said the 2009 elections would be a struggle between those who wanted to return to the era of former President Emile Lahoud and those who rejected Syrian hegemony over Lebanon.
And on Sunday’s meeting between Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri, Abdo said, “It is a positive step, but was waiting for serious assurances that arms will not be used again [in Lebanon].”
Abdo questioned why “some fear” the International Tribunal, a UN-commissioned investigation into the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri, if they were not implicated in the murder.
Abdo said a number of those who participated in the assassination of Hariri and thirty others had been identified and would be summoned to court soon.
He stressed that he had “no intention of targeting Major General Jamil Sayyed, but the picture created by Sayyed himself during the reign of President Lahoud reveals everything … He was aware of the crime of Hariri”s assassination.”
Abdo expressed the hope that there would be a military intelligence unit in the Lebanese embassy to be opened in Syria. “It is not important to know the name of the forthcoming Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, but to know who the security official will be in the embassy.”
Abdo also said he feared that security coordination with Syria was a cover for imposing Syrian security on Lebanon.
The former ambassador condemned the US raid on the Syrian-Iraqi border earlier week. Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem, he said, had warned that Syria would respond if the aggression was repeated. “But was Mouallem not aware that this is not the first time? Why did Syria only send a letter to the UN Secretary General, and not file a complaint with the Security Council?” he asked.