The investigation into the Beirut port blast is not limited to interrogations with political officials but also security and military leaders have also been summoned, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported on Tuesday.
After hearing the testimony of State Security agency head Tony Saliba, judge Fadi Sawwan reportedly decided to have Saliba and the State Security Major Joseph al-Naddaf meet face to face later this week, said the daily.
Sawwan has also summoned former chief of staff in the Lebanese army, Major General Walid Salman, for questioning tomorrow, according to the daily.
Quoting a ministerial source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the daily said that Sawwan has a recorded confession by Naddaf that he received an order from his head, Saliba, to open a hole in the back side of Ward No. 12 in Beirut port, where the ammonium nitrate was located, to see what was inside, and that he assigned one of his elements at the port to do the job where an electric welding was used.
Later on Tuesday, Naddaf’s family categorically denied the report.
“It only aims to discredit the reputation and the State Security apparatus,” they said in a statement.
The State Security agency also issued a statement describing the reports as “totally baseless and aimed at misleading the investigation.”