Security Forces Play Down Sami Gemayel Murder Plot as Family Stresses Assassination Thwarted
Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel stressed on Friday that an assassination attempt against his son, MP Sami Gemayel, had been thwarted although security forces tried to minimize the impact of the new revelation, saying the lawmaker had only been advised to avoid attending a dinner.
In remarks to al-Liwaa newspaper, the Phalange chief said: “We received information from the generate-directorate of the Internal Security Forces -the Intelligence Branch about a plan to assassinate MP Sami Gemayel whose preparations were made at the time and place where he would be.”
According to the daily, Gemayel was going to attend a dinner in the Metn town of Bhersaf.
An Nahar newspaper said that Intelligence Branch chief Col. Wissam al-Hassan contacted the MP and asked him about his dinner plans. The lawmaker then wondered “where did you get that information?”
Al-Hassan replied: “I will let you know and I urge you to take your precautions and not to attend the dinner.”
The two men met the next day and discussed the issue, An Nahar said.
Gemayel family sources told the daily that an official report was referred by the security agencies to Premier Najib Miqati about the alleged plot.
“Thank God that the plot was thwarted” in its early stages, Amin Gemayel said.
But security sources stressed to An Nahar that they only advised the MP not to attend a dinner that he had been invited to on Wednesday.
This means that “an assassination attempt hasn’t been thwarted as claimed by the media last night,” the sources said Friday.
They added that only Gemayel had been advised to take the precautionary measure and “not any other personality.”
In remarks to al-Balad daily, the MP said it was “unfortunate that security tension could return to the country.”
He hoped that this stage would end peacefully and “no one would get hurt.”
Lebanon was rocked by a wave of assassinations after ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 14, 2005 murder. Sami Gemayel’s brother, then Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, was among a series of politicians who were targeted.
He was killed on Nov. 21, 2006 by gunmen who approached his car and shot him in broad daylight in New Jdeideh.
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