Report: March 14 Camp Seeks Severing of Lebanese-Syrian Ties in Light of Samaha Arrest

The March 14 camp is seeking to take judicial action against former minister and MP Michel Samaha, who was charged with planning attacks in Lebanon, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

Informed sources told the daily that the camp will attempt to persuade President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati to suspend diplomatic and official ties with Syria in light of revelations that Samaha had sought to carry out the attacks at Syrian orders.

They also said that the camp will suggest the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon and the return of the Lebanese ambassador in Damascus.

In addition, the sources revealed that a number of legal experts within the March 14 forces are mulling the possibility of filing a criminal complaint against Syrian President Bashar Assad before the Beirut General Prosecution.

They said that the complaint will serve as a response to arrest warrants Syria had issued against various Lebanese figures in 2010.

The sources said that the Syrian warrants were not based on any legal foundations, whereas the Lebanese one would be based on Samaha’s case.

They expected the complaint to be ready by mid-next week.

In October 2010, Syria ordered the arrest of 33 people over alleged false testimonies given in the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is probing the assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafik Hariri.

The Lebanese defendants include Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi, MP Marwan Hamadeh, former General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza and former Justice Minister Charles Rizk as well as politicians, journalists and other Lebanese, Arab and foreign officials.

Meanwhile, some forces in the March 14 camp are also mulling the possibility of referring Samaha’s case to the STL, said An Nahar without adding further details.

It revealed that journalist May Chidiac, who was the victim of a failed assassination attempt, as well as the families of slain journalist Samir Qassir and slain former Communist party chief George Hawi are planning on requesting that the legal proceedings in Samaha’s case include their cases as well.

They based their action after being informed that some of the explosives found in Samaha’s possession greatly resemble the explosives used in the assassinations against Chidiac, Qassir, and Hawi.

Government deputy Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Sami Sader charged on Saturday ex-Information Minister Michel Samaha and Syrian security Chief Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk with forming a group to commit crimes in Lebanon.

The two were also charged with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures.

A judicial source told Agence France Presse that General Mamlouk is "suspected of forming a group to provoke sectarian killings and terrorist acts using explosives, which were transported and stored by Samaha.”