Lebanon Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi confirmed on Tuesday that a plot to kill former pro-Syrian Information Minister Michel Samaha, who is on trial on terrorism charges, has been thwarted.
Rifi told al-Liwaa newspaper that he had received information from a highly credible security agency that Samaha would be killed during his transfer to hospital for having information about the Assad regime.
The former minister and two Syrian officials have been indicted for transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon in an attempt to assassinate Lebanese political and religious leaders.
In a related development, Saudi newspaper al Watan reported on Wednesday that Damascus had asked Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah to get rid of Samaha.
According to security sources Samaha has important documents that prove the involvement of Assad regime officials in an assassinations inside Lebanon.
The Syrian Coalition has welcomed the start of the assassination trials of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, expressing hope that justice is fully achieved and impunity is ended.
The Syrian Coalition confirms that a lot of evidence surfaced proving the involvement of the Assad regime in the assassination of Hariri, who was seen by Hezbollah and the Assad regime as a main obstacle for their attempts to control Lebanon. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)