The Paris-based Intelligence Online has reported on its internet site that late Lebanon's premier Rafik Hariri managed to record the threats made by President Bashar Al Assad at their last face-to-face meeting in Damascus on a spy pen likely provided by the French secret service.
Hariri had provided copies of the threat to U.S. President Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf shortly before he was assassinated in a huge blast on Feb. 14, said the newsletter that specializes in intelligence affairs.
The Assad-Hariri meeting was held in the Syrian capital a week before the Lebanese parliament extended President Lahoud's term in office for three additional years on Sept. 3 under intensive Syrian pressure. Hariri was against the extension.
"It is useful for you to know that Lahoud's term will be extended no matter what. I shall not allow you to replace him with anyone else," the recording pen quoted Assad as telling Hariri. "You have to bear in mind that I am capable of destroying Lebanon, you included."
"If I am forced to leave Lebanon, I will leave it a pile of rubble. Your ally Walid Jumblatt must realize the fate awaiting him. The death of his father is the best lesson for him," Assad was reportedly recorded as telling Hariri.
