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By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

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BY WAY OF DECEPTION 319military target surrounded by civilians."Finally, after a 10-week siege, the guns fell silent and the PLOcommandos evacuated the city, prompting Lebanese PrimeMinister Chafik al Wazzan to say, "We have reached the end <strong>of</strong> oursorrows." He spoke too soon.In late August, a small U.S.-French-Italian peacekeeping teamarrived in Beirut, but the Israelis continued to tighten their grip onthe embattled city.On Tuesday, September 14, 1982, at 4:08 in the afternoon, a 200-pound bomb on the third floor <strong>of</strong> the Christian Phalange Partyheadquarters in East Beirut was detonated by remote control,killing president-elect Bashir Gemayel and 25 others as he andabout 100 party members were holding their regular weeklymeeting. Bashir was replaced by his 40-year-old brother, Amin.The bombing was traced to Ptabib Chartouny, 26, a member <strong>of</strong>the Syrian People's Party, rivals <strong>of</strong> the Phalangists. The operationhad been run by Syrian intelligence in Lebanon under LieutenantColonel Mohammed G'anen.Since the CIA had helped put Gemayel together with the Mossad,the United States had an intelligence-sharing agreement with it(this worked largely in the Mossad's favor, since they share verylittle with any other organization), and because the Mossad sawthe CIA as "players who can't play," there is no doubt it was fullyaware <strong>of</strong> the Syrian role in Gemayel's assassination.But two days after the bombing, Israeli Major General Amir Drori,head <strong>of</strong> the Northern Command, and several other top Israeli<strong>of</strong>ficers had guests at their command post in Beirut port:Lebanese Forces Chief <strong>of</strong> Staff Fady Frem, and their infamousintelligence chief, Elias Hobeika, a colorful but vicious man whoalways carried a pistol, a knife, and a hand grenade, and was themost feared Phalangist in Lebanon. He used to kill Syrian soldiersand chop their ears <strong>of</strong>f, stringing them up on a wire in his house.Hobeika was a close associate <strong>of</strong> Christian General Samir Zaza,and later the two men <strong>of</strong>ten alternated as commanders <strong>of</strong> theChristian army. For the Mossad, however, Hobeika had been animportant contact. He had attended the Staff and Command Col-

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