Drug link to Beirut blast

[emad]

Sunday Times
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv



THE murder of Rafik alHariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, may have been the work of Syrian intelligence officers trying to protect their share of Lebanon¡Çs $1 billion-a-year drugs trade.

Middle Eastern security sources have claimed that they took revenge on Hariri, who was agitating for the departure of Syria¡Çs 14,000 soldiers.

¡ÈIt was typical Middle Eastern revenge,¡É said one source. ¡ÈAl-Hariri was not the first or the last leading figure to be murdered on the drug scene in Lebanon.¡É

The theory received backing yesterday from a Kuwaiti newspaper which blamed the killing on leading figures in the Syrian military.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1491719,00.html