BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 2 (UPI) -- Lebanon's al-Mustaqbal reported Thursday that Syrian intelligence is intervening in the Lebanese legislative elections that started on May 29.
The report said that Syrian intelligence officer Mohammad Khallouf attended a lunch banquet on Tuesday in the northern port city of Tripoli.
The daily is owned by the family of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in a bomb blast in Beirut on Feb. 14.
It quoted eyewitnesses as saying that discussions revolved around the elections in the northern districts, adding that Khallouf was also spotted at a Tripoli port on Wednesday.
The newspaper said that pro-Syria Lebanese MP Elie Ferzali visited Damascus on Monday and met with the former chief of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon, Gen. Rustum Ghazale, and "put the final touches on the candidate lists in the western Bekaa."
It claimed that security officials were also pressuring electorates to vote against anti-Syrian opposition candidates.
The Lebanese elections, the first free polls without Syrian presence in 30 years, will continue over the next three weekends.
