Lebanese ministers and MPs 'on Syrian hit list'

Two Lebanese government ministers and two MPs have been named in a Syrian assassination "hit list", according to sources and one of the MPs included on the list.

Sources told al-Araby al-Jadeed that Nohad Machnouk, the interior minister and member of the Future movement, health minister Wael Abu Faour, of the PSP, and two Future movement MPs, Ahmad Fatfat and Moeen al-Merehbi, were being targeted.

Fatfat separately told al-Araby that he knew of the this. "The information came from two different sources, then given to us by Machnouk two weeks ago," he said.

He said the reports indicated that there had been "activity" by suspected Syrian agents in the vicinity of the four men on the list.

Members of Future and its 14 March movement ally have been targeted for assassination before, with 12 assassinations and three failed attempts since 2005.

Earlier this week, the Lebanese prime minister Ashraf Rifi told al-Araby of a Syrian plan to kill the former Lebanese toruism minister, Michel Samaha, who has been in prison since 2012.

Samaha was accused of coordinating with Syrian officers in preparation for bombings, security unrest and smuggling bombs from Syria to Lebanon.

This is an edited translation of the original Arabic.