Samaha: “This is what Bashar wants”

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“This is what Bashar wants,” Lebanese security sources quoted detained former Information minister and MP Michel Samaha as saying of Syrian President Bashar Assad, in a video shot by a Lebanese undercover agent for the Internal Security Forces Information Branch.

He was referring to bombing plan that was meant to be carried out in north Lebanon.

The security sources also said that, in the video, Samaha can be seen and heard saying that Syrian Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk had handed him the bombs in addition to the $170,000 cash that was meant to be distributed to would-be executors of the attacks in Lebanon.

Samaha’s arrest came upon instructions by acting General Prosecutor Samir Hammoud for “security reasons” which MTV said were linked to an assassination attempt against al-Mustaqbal bloc’s Akkar MP Khaled al-Daher to create civil strife.

Samaha is known for being a staunch ally of the Syrian regime and Hezbollah. He was among several pro-Syrian Lebanese officials who were sanctioned in 2007 by the United States for “contributing to political and economic instability in Lebanon.”

Last November Samaha criticized the sanctions against Syria as a further attempt to break up the country.

“The sanctions are aimed at deconstructing Syria and not to reform it “, he was quoted as saying

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