The Telecommunications Ministry has turned down repeated requests to provide security services with telephone communications information on the pretext of protecting the people’s privacy, security sources said Friday, as the Lebanese Forces warned of more assassination attempts unless telecoms data was made available. The row over the so-called “telecoms data,” which enables the tracking of telephone communications, raged as the country was rattled by an abortive attempt to assassinate LF leader Samir Geagea in an incident that has heightened fears of a return to a wave of political assassinations. “Security services have made several requests to the Telecommunications Ministry for telecoms data since Jan. 15, including a request this week following the attempt to assassinate Dr. Samir Geagea,” a senior security source told The Daily Star Friday. “But there has been no answer from the Telecommunications Ministry to these requests. This means the requests have been rejected,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The source added that Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui has referred the requests to a high-level judicial committee that can decide on these requests. “But the judicial committee argues that it cannot decide before the wiretapping command center begins operating,” the source said. He added that the wiretapping center, established at the Telecommunications Ministry building late last year, has yet to be furnished with the necessary equipment. The center includes representatives of all security bodies in order to protect citizens from privacy violations. The source warned of the consequences of withholding telecoms data from the country’s security services. “Withholding telecoms data amounts to closing the eyes of security personnel on their job during this delicate and sensitive stage,” the source said. “Telecoms data helps security services ensure preventive security.” Another security source said the telecoms data request had been made by the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch at the request of the Prosecutor General’s office. “The Telecommunications Ministry has turned down the request on the pretext that providing telecoms data would infringe on people’s privacy,” the source said. Sehnaoui, who was at the center of a heated controversy in January for refusing to provide security services with telephone communications information, was not reachable when The Daily Star tried to contact him Friday.But in an interview with Al-Jadeed TV Friday, Sehnaoui acknowledged withholding telecoms data in the interest of protecting people’s privacy. “The [Telecoms] Ministry can’t provide anyone with all of this data, which covers around 3 million [phone] subscribers, because this would mean an infringement on individual freedom,” Sehnaoui said. He added that the Cabinet had decided on Jan. 27 that telecoms data could be released after a decision by a judicial committee made up of the country’s three top judges. In another interview with MTV Friday night, Sehnaoui said: “I am not withholding information. We receive nearly 300 requests per month. The decision [to withhold data] was taken by the Cabinet.” Earlier in January, leaks of an alleged plot to assassinate a high-level security official, possibly the head of the ISF’s Information Branch, Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, highlighted the issue of telecoms data. Security bodies, including the ISF’s Information Branch, Army Intelligence and General Security, used to acquire all the data from the Telecoms Ministry. The data usually includes the location of a caller and his movements. Meanwhile, investigations continued in the alleged attempt to kill Geagea while security forces continued combing the woods around the LF leader’s residence in Maarab in search of clues. “The investigation is continuing in a professional fashion in an attempt to determine the number and identity of the perpetrators,” a senior judicial source told The Daily Star. Asked whether the judiciary had asked for telecoms data from the Telecoms Ministry, the source said: “All measures are being taken to reach clues and apprehend the culprits.” Meanwhile, the LF warned of more assassination attempts unless telecoms data was made available to security services. The LF’s Central Council met under Geagea Thursday to discuss the circumstances surrounding the shooting attempt. “Lebanon might be entering a very dangerous crossroads. Whoever carried out this criminal and highly professional attempt [against Geagea] will not hesitate to carry out other attempts and in other ways,” said an LF statement released Friday. It added that such attacks came because the perpetrators were in disarray. “[Their] mental state is collapsing day after day in the face of God, and the steadfastness of the young people” in Lebanon and the Arab world, the statement said, referring to pro-democracy popular upheavals in the Arab world. The LF participants asked about the connection between the alleged attempt on Geagea’s life and withholding telecoms data from security services, including the army and security forces, since Jan. 15. “Some participants asked: ‘Doesn’t withholding telecoms data, intentionally or unintentionally, facilitate the perpetrators’ mission?’” the statement said. Geagea said Wednesday he had escaped an assassination attempt when a sniper fired at his residence in Maarab in Kesrouan, warning that the political killings of the last decade had not ended. He added that the incident had required expertise, claiming that the shots had been fired a few kilometers from the target site. “The terrorist attempt was not only to assassinate a person or strike a party. It was also directed against a policy of resistance against tyranny. Therefore, it is directed against freedoms in Lebanon and its democratic system,” he said. Meanwhile, the U.S. said it suspected Geagea’s attempted assassination may have been due to his criticism of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah. “While we do not know who was behind the attack at this time, we are deeply concerned that Mr. Geagea may have been targeted because of his outspoken criticism of the Assad regime’s murderous repression and [Hezbollah]’s destabilizing actions in Lebanon,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said in a statement. Toner added that the U.S. condemned in the strongest terms what appeared to be an assassination attempt on the LF leader, calling on the government of Lebanon to thoroughly investigate the incident. “Lebanon and the international community have sought to bring about an end to impunity for political assassinations with the 2009 establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to investigate the assassinations of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and other public figures from 2004 to 2007,” the U.S. statement added. Geagea, a leading figure in the opposition March 14 coalition, is an outspoken critic of the Syrian regime and its ally, Hezbollah, which dominates the government. Geagea has accused Hezbollah of destabilizing the country by insisting on keeping its arsenal. – With additional reporting by Youssef Diab