Considering that Hassan Nasrallah just yesterday inveighed mightily against Israel for killing Imad Mugniyah and practically threatened doom on world Jewry, I don’t know what to make of this Haaretz story:
Syrian investigators probing the assassination of Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyah suspect that “official security organizations operating in Arab nations” may have been involved in the incident, Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper “Al-Akhbar” reported Saturday.
…”Al Akhbar” reported that several of the suspects arrested in connection to the killing were not civilians. On Friday, a Lebanese source said that the majority of the suspects detained by Syria in connection to the assassination were Palestinians.
Which Arab nations do the Syrians think would participate in such a killing? Lebanon possibly, which was part of the theory I advanced a few days ago in a post. The fact that some suspects detained were Palestinian is also strange and tantalizing. Is this a red herring? Why would any Palestinians, whose cause Mugniyah had served earlier in his career, wish him dead? Unless perhaps they are referring to Palestinians living in Lebanon, which might make more sense. Though I always thought of such Palestinians as being roughly allied with Hezbollah rather than opposed to it.
i wouldnt put it passed tehran and syria to pull something like this to coincide with the hariri rally… or to distract from tehran’s nonsense… plus, it always seems like hezbollah likes to take the spotlight away from gaza and hamas. mugniyah was more of a name and legend at this point. he might be worth more dead than alive… then again, israel and the US wanted him dead… it couldve been anyone…
conspiracy theories are fun!
I really don’t know. BUT don’t bet that Palestinians in the movement are always aligned with Hizbullah.
However when I read something like this I wonder if it’s not Israeli spin, although Al-Akhbar is not the usual outlet for Israeli-planted “news” stories.
Al-Akhbar is a “hizbullah-connected” newspaper? Who says?
Oh, right. Ha’aretz says that Al-Akhbar is Hizbullah connected. Well, I would check non-Israeli, non-right-wing Arab sources before believing that one.
Al Akhbar entry in Wikipedia:
Al Akhbar (الأخبار) is daily Arabic newspaper published in Beirut, and funded by a group of Lebanese nationals based in London, the United States and Lebanon. It is not affiliated with any political party.
It was launched by Ibrahim al Amine, along with the late Joseph Samaha, both renowned and widely acclaimed journalists. Joseph died shortly after the launching of the paper, on February 25th 2007. The newspaper license was leased from the Lebanese Communist Party.
The newspaper started printing its “zero” issues under difficult circumstances during the Israeli war on Lebanon (July 12 – August 14), and printed its first issue the day the UN-brokered cease-fire went into effect. It has become in less than 10 months a reference in the Lebanese newspaper industry, ranking between the first three national titles.
The political orientation of Al-Akhbar is considered to be liberal, democratic, and opposing the American project in the Arab region. Another main aspect of the newspaper is its focus on the politicised and unprofessional UN investigation in the assassination of late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. In October 2006, Ziad Rahbani, one of the most famous Arab musicians and theatre directors and son of legendary Fairuz, joined the newspaper in which he writes a column. Al-Akhbar is considered as the leading leftist newspaper in Lebanon, as well as the main ‘opposition’ newspaper of the country. Al-Akhbar is so considered to be close to the 8th of March mouvement (the opposition) in the actual political crisis in Lebanon, following the same evolution thats leads the left-wing in Lebanon (a quite small minority) to get closer to the Hezbollah, in the last decade particularly. Liberal in its content, it is progressive in its format and design; it has a large young audience spread all over the country.
Al-Akhbar has gathered a large number of opinion writers who have all worked in leading national and panarab newspapers before joining its team. Ibrahim al Amine, who previously worked for As-Safir, is the founder of the newspaper. Ounsi el Hajj, who was the former editor-in-chief of An-Nahar for over 22 years, acts as a consultant to the board of editors. Others include Nicolas Nassif, a former editor in An-Nahar, and Jean Aziz, formerly a lead editor in Al-Balad, who both write widely read columns. They were joined by Pierre Abi Saab, who heads the culture and people section after having done so in Al Hayat, and Omar Nashabe, head of the Justice and Crime section, with a PhD in criminology.
The newspaper’s website is the only newspaper site in Lebanon, and perhaps the Arab region, that fully adopts open-source technologies and has succeeded in occuping the lead position amongst all Lebanese newspapers’ websites as per Alexa.com services, superseding long established titles such as An-Nahar and As-Safir.
(end entry)
Look folks, read all newspaper articles from the Middle East as part of the larger conspiracy. Ha’aretz is an interesting source, and yet it can be used as a mouthpiece for various state players who want to push their own “spin” on a story. The Israelis would have an interest in peddling stories that deflect attention from their own (possible) involvement. Not that I’m saying I think the Israelis did it. I’m just saying – keep an open and critical mind.
Again, I really don’t know. But I suggest that if you’re interested, you read Josh Landis at Syria Comment, and follow the raging threads, where you will pick up all the conspiracy theories you want. Lots of Israelis post over there so it’s quite a diverse forum.
SOrry to spam your comments thread here – but I notice that you (Richard) were very active in the Syria Comment conspiracy thread, so clearly you know all about it. Probably more than I do. I am trying to stay out of politics, to protect my health.
Carry on…
Thanks Leila for that background on Al-Akhbar. Yes, I agree. Although Haaretz tends to be the most reliable Israeli news source, even it sometimes has to be taken w. a grain of salt. As in this case. The Lebanese paper certainly doesn’t sound like a Hezbollah mouthpiece based on the Wikipedia entry.
Even Haaretz, when mentionning al-akhbar refers to its as ‘a Lebanese opposition newspaper whose editor (Ibrahim al Amine) is known for his close ties with Hezbollah’. Which no one can deny, but which does not make it a Hezbollah newspaper. And if it were, than Hezbollah is great, given the social progressive content of the newspaper that backs major issues such as homosexual rights, women rights, civil freedom, public participation of youth and women in political life, social economical justice, and creative modern arab artists, and who greatly defended Persepolis movie for instance.