Lebanese military intelligence has detained an Iraqi man accused of impersonating a security official and cultivating ties with senior Lebanese security figures, Lebanese and Iraqi security sources told Alhurra.
The man, who became known in Beirut as “the colonel,” was taken to Lebanon’s Defense Ministry for questioning after the Lebanese Intelligence Directorate opened an investigation into his activities, the sources said.
According to the sources, the suspect had presented himself as the head of security at the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut and developed relationships with Lebanese security officers. Some of those contacts involved what the sources described as “defense-related financial matters.”
An Iraqi source said the man had also introduced himself in Shiite circles as being affiliated with Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia and political faction designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization.
But an Iraqi source familiar with the case told Alhurra that the man was, in fact, a delivery worker who had previously been employed by the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut. He is married to a Lebanese woman, the source said.
The suspect was detained five days ago after allegedly building connections with “all Lebanese security agencies,” according to one Lebanese source. The source said some of those agencies had “hosted receptions and banquets for him.”
About a year ago, the man visited Lebanon’s General Directorate of State Security, where he was received by its director general, Maj. Gen. Edgar Lawandos, and posed for photos with him, according to the sources.
During the same visit, the suspect also met Brig. Gen. Morshed Suleiman, the deputy director general of State Security, and Brig. Gen. Mohammad Mortada, offering promises of assistance, the sources said.
He also met Maj. Gen. Hassan Choucair, the director general of General Security, according to the sources.
The suspect has not yet been referred to Lebanon’s public prosecutor’s office, Alhurra has learned.
Lebanese sources said Maj. Gen. Edgar Lawandos called the head of Beirut’s intelligence branch to express displeasure over the suspect’s arrest. The matter later prompted the intervention of President Joseph Aoun, who summoned Lawandos over the case, the sources said.
