BEIRUT - A potential diplomatic crisis between Lebanon and Egypt loomed Monday, as the Egyptian Embassy in Lebanon issued a statement in response to charges made by Jamil al-Sayyed, an ex-security official, against Egypt and its embassy in Beirut. Dismissing accusations made by the former General Security Chief, the statement said the embassy was “surprised” by Sayyed's comments that included “unfounded” claims, along with “incitement against diplomats working in the embassy.” According to the statement, Egyptian diplomats “meet Lebanese from different sides, in line with their legal and legitimate work on Lebanese territories,” adding that the “false claims” made by Sayyed were an “unacceptable, illegal and immoral incitement” against the embassy's diplomats. The embassy held Sayyed completely legally responsibility for any aggressive act against the embassy's employees. Addressing a news conference Sunday, Sayyed said Lebanon was targeted by certain Egyptian, Jordanian and American circles plotting to instigate strife among the Lebanese. Sayyed urged the Egyptian administration to withdraw diplomat Ahmad Hilmi from Lebanon, because “he worked on instigating strife and says that Egypt will fight the Syrians.” Also during the news conference, the former security chief lashed out at Prime Minister Saad Hariri, accusing him of being behind false witnesses in investigations into his late father former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination. Sayyed said Hariri along with his “political, media, judicial and security team” joined forces with former head of the investigation committee Detlev Mehlis to exploit the murder as a plot aimed against Syria and to seize power in Lebanon. Sayyed who was the head of the General Security when Hariri was assassinated in February 2005, was arrested later in the same year along with three other top security officials in the country upon the demand of Mehlis. The four were released in April 2009 by Daniel Bellemare, the general prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) that is probing the murder.
