BEIRUT, Sept 20 (AFP) - Lebanese police have opened at Interpol's request an investigation into Ziad Samir Jarrah, a suspect in the terror attacks on the United States, court and family sources told AFP Thursday. The international criminal police organisation on Wednesday asked Lebanese court officials for information on the 26-year-old Jarrah, who was implicated in the September 11 attacks in the United States, court sources said.
Lebanese general prosecutor Adnan Addum deferred the request to the criminal police division, they added. The FBI believes Jarrah helped hijack and pilot United Airlines Flight 93, the Boeing 757 that left Newark, New Jersey for San Francisco and went down in Stony Creek Township, Pennsylvania.
All the suspects in the hijacked airliner attacks against the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington, and the hijacked plane in Newark, are presumed dead. The uncle of the suspected hijacker, Jamal Jarrah, told AFP on Thursday that security agents visited the family home in Marj, in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Syria.
"They asked all sorts of questions about Ziad, his school history, his trips, his studies and his behavior," he said. He also said that during the police visit he was in contact with Jarrah's German girlfriend, Ilse, who lives in western Bochum. The young woman said she did not know two other of the suspected hijackers, Egyptian Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi from the United Arab Emirates, who were also students with Jarrah in Hamburg, he said.
PARIS, Sept 20 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac is to meet Saturday with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri to discuss the suicide bombings in the United States and their impact on the Middle East, Hariri's entourage said here Thursday. The planned meeting comes amid efforts by US President George W. Bush to shore up support for an international coalition, including Arab countries, to combat terrorism in the wake of the horrific September 11 attacks that left more than 5,000 people dead or missing.
Hariri arrived in Paris late Wednesday after meeting in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. His office said US Secretary of State Colin Powell had telephoned Hariri while he was in Damascus to discuss cooperation in the fight against terrorism. US Ambassador to Lebanon Vincent Battle recalled earlier this week that Lebanon was still "harboring" groups on the US State Department's list of terrorist organisations.
by Pascal Mallet
BEIRUT, Sept 20 (AFP) - Lebanese security services, reacting to the devastating terrorist attacks in the United States, are reviewing preparations for the summit of French-speaking nations to be held here at the end of October. "Because of what happened last week the alert level has been cranked up a notch. We have considered new scenarios and reviewed those which we had already thought possible," a security source who asked not to be named told AFP."
"We have been actively preparing for this summit for 10 months, but of course in the past few days we have taken extra steps, taking into account the threat of a new type of air attack," he added, while refusing to give details. The measures had been taken in close cooperation with police and security forces of members of the International Francophonie Organisation (OIF), particularly France and Canada, the source said.
Heads of state and government of 55 countries representing some 500 million people are to attend the OIF's ninth summit from October 26 to 28, following preparatory meetings of senior officials and ministers the week before.
Security at the summit is the responsibility of the commander of Lebanon's 2,000 strong presidential guard, Colonel Mustapha Hamdan. He will have at his disposal some 8,000 men from the plethora of Lebanon's security services, ranging from police to military intelligence. The Lebanese authorities are banking on some 4,000 participants, mainly press as well as the national delegations, at the summit in central Beirut, where a red zone will keep the public out. "It's the first time since independence (in 1943) that a conference of such size and importance is being held in Lebanon," stressed another security official.
Lebanon is still struggling to overcome its recent history, which saw many incidents of what might be regarded as terrorism, including suicide attacks and hostage-taking during the 1975-90 civil war. From 1978-2000 the south of the country was occupied by Israel, which made free use of its air force against targets in Beirut and elsewhere in response to attacks by the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
The United States has branded Hezbollah, which is also represented in parliament and controls dozens of municipalities in southern Lebanon, a "terrorist" organisation, as well as radical Palestinian groups active in refugee camps in the country. "What happened in New York and Washington surpasses understanding. It is incredible and was unpredictable," the official said. "The Francophone summit in itself is not liable to attract such aggressive behaviour. But we also know that we cannot rely on this belief."
The official agreed that a further increase in regional tension ahead of the summit could lead to the meeting being called off. But he added, "The decision to postpone it is a matter for the governments concerned and not the security services."
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