Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Three Iranians and a Lebanese man living in Hizbullah-controlled south Beirut were arrested last week on charges of monitoring the residence of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in Meerab, security sources reported Friday.

The report came hours after Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat accused Hizbullah of monitoring a Beirut airport runway used by executive jets and warned against a terrorist attack targeting an aircraft using the facility.

The sources told a local newsletter the four men were spotted in a rented car near Geagea’s residence last week.

Upon checking the plate number of the red-painted car it was found owned by a car rental company based in south Beirut and it had been rented to three Iranians and a Lebanese man.

Police interrogated the four who claimed to have lost their way as they were on a trip along the “Jesus Trail”, and ended up in Meerab, northeast of Beirut.

Jesus Christ, according to biblical history, visited south Lebanon and may have reached as far as the Sidon coastline, 45 kilometers south of Beirut.

Meerab, however, is almost 80 kilometers north of Sidon.

One of the Iranian suspects said in his testimony that he visits Lebanon because he is married to a Lebanese woman. The two others said they were students at the Beirut Arab University and the Islamic University, respectively.

The three, however, did not know Arabic and asked for interpretation to Farsi during their interrogation, which sounded strange, especially for alleged students at BAU and IU that teach in Arabic.

The three also said they resided in an apartment owned by a Lebanese friend in south Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold that is off limits to Lebanese police and state authority.

It also could not be determined why the Iranian, who claims to be married to a Lebanese woman, was residing with friends in south Beirut and not with his wife’s parents.

The four were set free after the investigation, but lawyers following up the case demanded further interrogation of the four in light of contradictions in their testimonies.

However, the Iranian embassy officially asked the Lebanese judiciary to postpone for four days the issuing of a subpoena, the central news agency reported.

Mystery shrouds whereabouts of the four, while Geagea’s lawyers demand expanded investigation with them in light of information about a possible attack targeting residence of the Lebanese Forces leader either by rockets or projectiles loaded with chemical or biological warheads, the report added.

(Naharnet)