Regime arrested son of Hezbollah’s prominent commander for selling arms to rebels: WikiLeaks

(Translation by Yusra Ahmed)

A secret telegraph issued by the Saudi intelligence revealed that a son of a prominent commander in Hezbollah had got involved in selling arms to officers defected from the Syrian regime.

The document was published by WikiLeaks among thousands of Saudi Arabia. It was issued by the head of general intelligence and directed to the king of Saudi Arabia who was the prime minister as well. It informed the king that Syrian regime had arrested Ali Mohammed Yazbik, the son of Mohamed Yazbik, the commander in Hezbollah, after they were learnt that he sold arms to many defected officers. 

The telegraph mentioned that intelligence of Syrian regime was looking for a Shiite man called “Akrima Miqdad”, known to work in arms’ trading and he sold arms to Sunni people in Lebanon. 

In the same telegraph, regime’s intelligence requested from its alliance “Hezbollah and Amal Movement” to check if any of their members had sold arms to members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Syria. 

Moreover, the telegraph mentioned that Syrian intelligence had called many of tribes’ leaders like Al-Jafers, and Al-Zoeters, and threatened them of killing if it was proven that they involved in selling arms to defected officers from the Syrian Army. 

WikiLeaks said in a statement that it has already posted roughly 60,000 files. Most of them appear to be in Arabic.

There was no immediate way to verify the authenticity of the documents, although WikiLeaks has a long track record of hosting large-scale leaks of government material. Many of the documents carried green letterhead marked “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” or “Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” 

If genuine, the documents would offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the notoriously opaque kingdom. They might also shed light on Riyadh’s longstanding regional rivalry with Iran, its support for Syrian rebels and Egypt’s military-backed government, and its opposition to an emerging international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program. 

In its statement, WikiLeaks said the release coincided with the three-year anniversary of its founder, Julian Assange, who sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.