Ya Libnan

Lebanon’s Abbas Ibrahim heads to London

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File photo: Major general Abbas Ibrahim has been the general director of the General Directorate of General Security since 18 July 2011.

Lebanon’s spy chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim left for London on Sunday reportedly after he was invited there by his British counterpart

This development comes after Major General Ibrahim emerged as one of the suspects in the Beirut port blast

According to Lebanese media reports Interior minister Mohammad Fahmi has agreed to allow Judge Tariq Bitar to question Ibrahim over the blast . According to media reports Ibrahim earned millions of dollars from the sale of the chemicals that were stored at the port . A 3.5 million Dollar account was one of the accounts reported by UAE .

Ibrahim was the first official to reveal that the explosion at the port was that of the ammonium nitrate shipment and not fireworks as some claimed

This August 5, 2020 file photo, is the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon. 211 killed , 6500 Injured after several hundred tons of ammonium nitrate exploded . 2750 tons were stored there for nearly 7 years, reportedly for use by the Syrian regime in its barrel bombs. The shipment was reportedly confiscated by Badri Daher a close associate of President Michel Aoun and his son-in-law Gebran Bassil , both are allied with the Syrian regime . The shipment arrived at a time when Syria was surrendering its chemical weapons to a UN backed organization for destruction . Aoun officially knew about the Ammonium Nitrate 2 weeks before the explosion but did nothing about it . He , along with his Hezbollah allies refused an international investigation but promised a local investigation that will bring the culprits to justice in less than a week. On July 1 nearly 11 months after the explosion , judge Tariq Bitar named PM Hassan Diab , major Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil, Ghazi Zoaiter, Youssef Fenianos , Jihad Machnouk as being responsible for the explosion (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, Beirut, Lebanon(Photo by Anwar Amro/AFP)

The presence of the IAE accounts was denied by Ibrahim according to media reports

The 61-year-old head of Lebanon’s top intelligence agency has become an increasingly visible pointman on thorny dossiers and was widely expected before Bitar’s announcement to further step out of the shadow in the future.

Critics argue that Ibrahim owes his clout to the support he has from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group

Ibrahim forged a strong and trusting relationship with the powerful Shiite group when he was army intelligence chief for the south of the country.

Over a decade as Lebanon’s spymaster, he has deftly walked that tightrope and built a growing reputation as a regional troubleshooter.

Ibrahim, whose current tenure runs out in 2022, is often tipped as the only serious candidate to take over from veteran parliament speaker Nabih Berri.

Ibrahim is unphased by the label some have given him as Hezbollah’s man in Lebanon

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