Slain Lebanon official Wissam al-Hassan to be buried alongside Hariri

Wissam al-Hassan, the slain Lebanese police intelligence chief, will be buried on Sunday in Beirut alongside the grave of his mentor, former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, a security official said. General Hassan, killed on Friday in a car bombing, would be laid to rest in the mausoleum of Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005, the head of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced on television. The funeral would take place following afternoon Muslim prayers at the Al-Amine mosque in downtown Beirut, near the mausoleum, General Ashraf Rifi said. The Lebanese opposition, which has blamed the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the explosion, called on fellow citizens to attend the funeral en mass. Under Hassan, the ISF played a central role in the August arrest of Lebanon's former information minister Michel Samaha, who has close links to Damascus. He was charged with planning attacks to spark sectarian strife in Lebanon. The agency was also deeply involved in seeking the arrest of those responsible for a host of attacks and assassinations between 2005 and 2008, starting with the Hariri assassination, for which Hassan blamed Damascus. In October 2010, the Syrian courts issued arrest warrants against 33 Lebanese figures, including General Hassan, for perjury in the case of the Hariri assassination.