Beirut (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Lebanese police arrested three former top pro-Syrian security officials and a pro-Syrian former member of parliament on Tuesday, a security source said. The source said Jamil al-Sayyed, former chief of the General Security Directorate, Ali Hajj, ex-head of police, and Raymond Azar, ex-head of military intelligence, were arrested in raids at their homes at dawn by police.
In a latest development, the police issued an arrest warrant against gen. Mustafa Hamdane, the chief of the Presidential Guards.
It was not immediately clear why the arrests were made but the three men had been blamed by some Lebanese politicians of having a role in the February 14 killing of ex-prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. Former MP Nassir Qandil was also arrested, the source said.
Pro Syrian security agents were also suspected as the authors of the blast that ripped through storefronts in a Christian neighbourhood of Beirut. On August 22 a bomb placed between a shopping center and a hotel blew off shop shutters, smashed windows in the hotel lobby and wounded five people, most with minor injuries from flying debris and broken glass. The night attack hit the mostly Christian neighbourhood of Zalka.
At that time, President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Fuad Seniora issued statements condemning the blast, with Seniora saying the government would "spare no effort to arrest the criminals responsible for these ugly crimes." In his statement, Seniora also pledged to "rebuild the security agencies" to avoid similar attacks.
