LEBANON’S AWN REPORTEDLY MEETS SYRIAN SECURITY OFFICIAL IN GERMANY
Elaph website
3 Aug 07
London
A Western diplomatic source has disclosed that Lebanese Deputy Michel
Awn who visited Germany last week on the pretext of meeting with
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier went to this European
country to hold a secret meeting with senior Syrian security official
Major-General Muhammad Nasif (Abu-Wa’il).
The source said the meeting between Awn and "Abu-Wa’il" focused on
the parliamentary battle in north Al-Matn which Awn is contesting
in an attempt to prevent Shaykh Amin al-Jumayyil from winning the
seat that was occupied by his son Pierre who was assassinated last
November. The source stressed that Maj-Gen Nasif underlined the need
for Awn to contest the elections battle against Al-Jumayyil to the end
and that Syria is willing to place all its resources at his disposal.
The Syrian official insisted that Awn should not back down on
the battle and reiterated that Damascus would ask the parties it
influences to back Awn’s candidate to the utmost limit. He pointed
out in this respect that Syria is capable of pressuring the Armenian
Tashnaq Party to have all its votes go to Awn’s candidate.
It was noticed that Awn returned from Germany with hard-line stands
that prevented any compromise in Al-Matn after Muhammad Nasif asserted
to him that Syria was capable of ensuring his candidate’s success
and would put its weight and that of all its allies behind achieving
this goal.
It is known that Maj-Gen Nasif is responsible for the Shi’i dossier in
general and the Shi’i one in Lebanon in particular and has a history
of strong relations with all the Shi’i parties, foremost of them
"Hezbollah" and "Amal." The senior Syrian security official visits
Germany frequently for treatment.