Report: Hezbollah draw on names of dead Sunni’s to mislead security services
The Qatari newspaper Al-Arab said on Wednesday that Egyptian security services discovered that Hezbollah used the names of dead Sunni Lebanese to forge passports for its cell members discovered in Egypt two weeks ago.
According to the paper, Hezbollah forged documents to mislead the security services in various countries, so that the members’ religious and political affiliations would not raise doubt among the services.
An Egyptian source told al-Arab that Sami Chehab, who was the main suspect in the Hezbollah cell, was actually the name of a dead Sunni man. Chehab’s real name was Mohammad Youssef Mansour, the source said, adding that Egypt sent his information to the Lebanese authorities.
The source also told the paper that Nasser Abu Omra, another suspect in the Hezbollah cell case, confessed to sending Egyptians and Palestinians residing in Egypt to Lebanon, Sudan and Libya to be militarily trained.
As a result, the Egyptian Interior Ministry initiated several security measures, which included reviewing contracts of Egyptian nationals who had signed to work in companies in Lebanon, Libya and Bahrain.
Al-Arab said that during the investigations, Sami Chehab admitted that his boss, Mohammad Qabalan, who is on the run, used to train Palestinian suicide bombers. Chehab added that Hezbollah did not allow members to question their leaders or even know where the orders came from.
Also according to the source, two Sudanese suspects denied the accusations pressed against them by Egyptian authorities that stated they were spies for foreign parties and had joined illegitimate groups. The suspects also “denied participating in transporting weapons and explosives from Sudan to the Gaza Strip through the Sinai. However, they admitted that they helped smuggle Sudanese nationals and Africans to work in Israel,” al-Arab reported.