Syria has moved its intelligence headquarters
to a Beirut neighborhood controlled by Hizbullah.
Lebanese opposition sources said the Syrian military moved office in Lebanon from the so-called Beaurivage to
southern Beirut. The sources said the transfer was completed over the last
week as part of an effort to lower the Syrian profile in Beirut and central
Lebanon.
The sources said Syria maintains up to
50,000 intelligence agents — both Lebanese and Syrian — to ensure its
control over its western neighbor.
[In Brussels, the European Parliament voted in a non-binding resolution
to deem Hizbullah a terrorist group, Middle East Newsline reported. But the parliament rejected a motion to
include Hizbullah on the EU's list of terrorist organizations.]
"The Syrians aren't going anywhere," an opposition source with
connections in Lebanese intelligence said. "They are fusing with Hizbullah
while pretending to pull out some troops from Lebanon."
The Hizbullah-controlled neighborhoods in southern Beirut have been
off-limits to Lebanese troops or police. The neighborhoods served to conceal
U.S. nationals abducted by Hizbullah in the 1980s.
The sources said the order to leave the Beaurivage was relayed by Gen.
Rustom Ghazaleh, chief of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon. The operation was
commanded by Ghazaleh's deputy, Gen. Mohammed Khalouf.
The Syrian move to the southern suburb of Beirut was part of heightened
cooperation between Damascus and Hizbullah to maintain the Syrian military
and intelligence presence in Lebanon.
The Beaurivage continues to be under Syrian control, the sources said.
But the building has been emptied of documents and equipment.
The Lebanese opposition, in an assertion confirmed by Western
intelligence agencies, said Syria has been organizing a campaign to attack
anti-regime elements. The opposition said Syrian intelligence plans to
intimidate or assassinate anti-Syrian candidates for Lebanon's parliament in
elections called for May 2005.
Another option raised by Lebanese and Western sources was that Syria
would seek a Hizbullah provocation along the Israeli-Lebanese border over
the next few weeks. The sources said Israel's military shared this
assessment.
