Beirut – Syria on Monday July 9 – 2007- reportedly handed over to Lebanon the stolen car used in the November 22, 2006 assassination of Lebanese industry minister Pierre Gemayel. According to a Lebanese security official the broken down Honda was found abandoned on the international highway linking Syria with Turkey. Reporting on the same story, the daily As-Safir said an insurance company that took delivery of the car handed it over to the Internal Security Forces’ intelligence bureau and that after thorough examination, it was confirmed that the vehicle was used in Gemayel’s murder.
As-Safir said an investigation of Lebanese suspect Mohammed Merhi uncovered that the al-Qaeda-inspired group Fatah al-Islam had a hand in the murder of Gemayel, a scion of Lebanon’s most prominent Christian family and a leading opponent of Syria, who was gunned down near Beirut. The leading daily An-Nahar on Saturday said that based on an interrogation with Fatah al-Islam detainees, the perpetrator of the Gemayel crime was the terrorist group led by Shaker Abssi. The as-Safir report comes a few days after other media reports that Ahmed Jebril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command also played a role in the crime.
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese investigators have concluded that al Qaeda-inspired militants killed Lebanese minister late last year, a Lebanese newspaper reported on Saturday
An-Nahar daily said results of the investigation into the November 21 assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel would be made public soon and would show proof against Fatah al Islam
It gave little other details and there was no comment on the report from the authorities or the group.
Lebanese troops are battling Fatah al-Islam militants at a refugee camp in north Lebanon since May 20. More than 200 people have been killed in the fighting at Nahr al-Bared.
Lebanese investigators found a car suspected of being used in Gemayel’s murder last month during a crackdown against militants across the north, security sources have said.
The authorities had blamed Fatah al-Islam for a twin bus bombings in a Christian area near Beirut on February 13, killing three civilians. The group has denied any links.
