In meticulous detail, the report documents how Hariri's movements and phone conversations had been monitored for months. It casts suspicion on a decision by one of the four arrested Lebanese generals, Ali Hajj, to reduce Hariri's state security detail from 40 to eight in November, 2004. Mehlis draws attention to Sheik Ahmed Abdel-Al, a prominent figure in the pro-Syrian Al-Ahbash Sunni Muslim Orthodox group, whom he called a "a key figure in an ongoing investigation." Abdel-Al had extensive contacts with top Lebanese security officials before and after the blast, and tried to hide information from investigators It was his brother who called Lahoud just before the blast. The 53-page report goes on to outline Hariri's worsening relationship with Syrian officials and said the motive for his death appeared to have been political.
Hariri had fallen out with Syria and eventually resigned in October, 2004, a month after a decision to change Lebanon's laws and extend Lahoud's term. Pro-Syrian opponents had accused Hariri of being the driving force behind a UN resolution last September which unsuccessful attempted to stop Lebanon's parliament from extending the term of Lahoud, his longtime rival. The resolution also demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence operatives from Lebanon. The report cites a witness as saying that Lebanese and Syrian officials had decided to assassinate Hariri about two weeks after the UN Security Council adopted the resolution One witness said that Brig Gen.
Mustafa Hamdan, another of the four generals under arrest, ended an October, 2004 conversation by saying: "We are going to send him on a trip, bye, bye Hariri.". The journalist Rory Carroll was safe in Baghdad's Green Zone last night after being released unhurt by his captors who seized him on Wednesday in a city suburb. The Guardian confirmed the release of its reporter, an Irish citizen, and the British Government said he was "safe and well".. Mahfuz Abu al Nasr, a Palestinian farmer from the West Bank village of Salem, was grieving yesterday over the wreckage of his livelihood. Jewish settlers had come in the night and destroyed 30 olive trees he planted a decade ago, in revenge for the deaths of three young Israelis in a drive-by shooting last Sunday.
