Ana Maria Luca
When you read the Internal Security Forces report on the kidnapping of four Syrian brothers from Beirut, it feels like the days of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon are back—Syrian Embassy cars with tinted windows, “sleeper” agents inside the Lebanese police, people vanishing from the street without a trace and being turned in to Syrian agents on the border in the Bekaa.

Jassem Merii al-Jassem and two of his brothers, Chedid and Ali, vanished from Beirut at the end of February 2011, right after Jassem had been released from jail for distributing flyers calling for the end of the Assad regime in Syria. A fourth brother, Ahmad, disappeared the next day. Now, in an unprecedented move, the report of their alleged kidnappings has been made public by ISF chief General Ashraf Rifi, bringing to light a plot that has instilled fear in the hearts of people across Lebanon.

The ISF investigation found that it was First Lieutenant Salah al-Hajj and his squad of policemen, who were assigned to security at the Syrian Embassy in Beirut, who snatched the four brothers and turned them in to a member of the Syria-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command at the border in the Bekaa Valley.

Lawyer and analyst Marwan Sakr believes the fact that the Syrian regime still has “sleepers” inside the Lebanese security forces shows that there is still a very organized network of Syrian agents watching over Lebanese affairs, six years after Damascus was forced to pull its troops and intelligence operatives out of the country.

“What is frightening is that there are other agents like Hajj, who are not ‘sleepers’ anymore,” Sakr told NOW Lebanon. He added that appointing Saleh al-Hajj—the son of General Ali Hajj, the pro-Syrian former head of the ISF who spent four years in prison after being accused of involvement in the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri—as head of security at the Syrian Embassy was a mistake made by the previous March 14 government. “The March 8 government didn’t have to change anything” when it came to power this year, he added.

Nabil al-Halabi, a lawyer with Lebanese Association for Democracy and Human Rights, has been documenting the Jassem case since February. He told NOW Lebanon that it was obvious that there was cooperation between officers in the Lebanese and Syrian security services. He added that he finds it strange the Lebanese Military Intelligence called Ahmad Jassem for questioning right after the other three had gone missing on February 24.

“We contacted the Military Intelligence and asked them to provide information on the case,” Halabi said. “[We asked] why they had decided to detain the Jassems, under which law, under what accusation. They did not answer. Since the judge had let them go for lack of proof of any crime, why would Intelligence call the fourth brother for questioning?”

“It is either Military Intelligence gave way to the operation, or there are rogue officers inside the military institution informing people outside who they have in custody and why, and this is why the Ministry of Defense should investigate this,” he said.

Halabi said that the ISF tried to cover up the whole affair. After the investigation, Hajj was transferred and no further legal action was taken. The report was made public only after several Western ambassadors were informed about the case and pressured the Lebanese government to take action.

An-Nahar newspaper quoted a judicial source as saying that “the family of the Syrian Jassem brothers dropped the lawsuit that they had filed for the abduction, and said that their sons are present in Syria.” But according to Sakr, Hajj still must appear before the Military Court.

According to Rifi’s statements before the Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, there are similarities between the Jassem case and that of former Syrian Vice President and Baath Party co-founder Shibli al-Aysami, who vanished in May from his summer house in Aley, Mount Lebanon. But Rifi said the similarities are not enough to link the two incidents and that Aysami’s case is still under investigation.

Rajaa Sharfeddine, Aysami’s daughter, said that the family was informed that her father is in Syria and that his health is deteriorating.

According to Halabi, more disappearances have been happening in Beirut since the anti-regime uprising began in Syria. “We have information about others who have been kidnapped from the Charles Helou bus station,” he said, though he would not give more information out of concern for the victims’ families’ safety.
Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali has denied reports that his embassy was behind the disappearance of Syrian opposition members in Lebanon, calling such accusations "unfounded."

Sakr said he doesn’t expect the pro-Syria March 8 government to take any action in the kidnappings, noting that it did not do anything when the Syrian army entered Lebanese territory several times over the past few weeks to assassinate Syrian nationals. The government did not make a statement after Rifi’s report went public.

March 14 MP Ahmad Fatfat told NOW Lebanon that it is the March 8 government’s fault that Syrian opposition members don’t feel safe in Lebanon. “Unfortunately we believe that this government is a partner in this crime—this government that downplays such a case or does not comment about the invasion taking place on the northern borders, and that does not follow up on the beating up of demonstrators in front of the Syrian Embassy. This means that the current government is partner in what is taking place,” he told NOW Lebanon.

Nadine Elali contributed reporting to this article.