It was an apparent fall from grace for Lebanon’s former Minister of Information Michel Samaha, still in his pajamas as he was hauled from bed on August 9 during an early morning raid by heavily armed Internal Security Forces (ISF) personnel. His wife reported that it seemed as if the officers from the ISF’s Information Branch had “come to liberate something.” Samaha, a close friend and ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was widely acknowledged to be Assad’s man in Lebanon, and his arrest shook his Lebanese allies in the March 8 coalition as much as it garnered fanfare from his opponents in the March 14 political alliance. Information leaked from the Information Branch indicates Samaha — whose house was reportedly found filled with explosive devices — was plotting to plant bombs in Sunni and Christian areas in Akkar, North Lebanon, under orders from Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk. The
