Lebanon braces for Hezbollah backlash over Hariri
Lebanon braced on Friday for a possible backlash after a UN-backed tribunal issued an indictment in the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in which four Hezbollah members are named. Daniel Bellemare, prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), hailed as a "historic milestone" the indictment, which implicates Hezbollah operatives in the assassination. "The confirmation of the indictment is only a second step in the judicial process," read a statement from Bellemare's office on Friday. "The office of the prosecutorâs investigations are still ongoing and work continues to be ready for trial." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose country blacklists Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, urged the Lebanese government to uphold its obligations to international law, a call echoed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon. Syria, which along with Iran is a major backer of the Shiite Hezbollah, said the STL had lost credibility after the suspects' names were leaked. "The tribunal has significantly lost credibility because of these leaks, especially as Israeli media was the first to welcome the news and disclose the content of the indictment, days before it was announced," Ali Abdel Karim Ali told reporters in Beirut. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Friday confirmed to AFP the names of the men charged by the Netherlands-based STL and said efforts would begin to find and arrest them. "We have to address this issue calmly and wisely to preserve the civil peace," Charbel said. "If the situation explodes, everyone loses." He also noted that there are between 15,000 and 20,000 outstanding arrest warrants in Lebanon. Mustafa Badreddine, Salim Ayyash, Assad Sabra and Hussein Anaissi are named in the arrest warrants. Their whereabouts remain unknown. Badreddine -- brother-in-law of top Hezbollah operative Imad Mughniyeh who was killed in a 2008 explosion in Damascus -- is suspected of masterminding the February 14, 2005 seaside bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others. Ayyash, who holds US citizenship, allegedly carried out the attack. Sabra and Anaissi allegedly coordinated with Ahmad Abu Adas, a Palestinian who contacted Al-Jazeera television following the Hariri assassination to claim responsibility for the bombing. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the militant group, is due to make a televised address on Saturday that will mark Hezbollah's first reaction to the indictment that has triggered fears of sectarian unrest in Lebanon. Hezbollah has repeatedly warned that it would not sit idly by if any of its militants were accused of Hariri's killing. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of the group, has called for a parliamentary vote of confidence on the Hezbollah-dominated government next week. Hezbollah and its allies have a slight majority in parliament. The parliamentary bloc of Saad Hariri, son of the slain Rafiq and head of Lebanon's pro-Western opposition, on Friday said it would not grant the cabinet its vote of confidence over its policy statement, which "in practice means the government has disclaimed Lebanon's commitments to the STL." Prime Minister Najib Mikati's government on Thursday submitted its programme to parliament, including an ambiguously worded clause stipulating that Lebanon would respect international resolutions as long as they did not threaten peace and stability. The Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, the most powerful political and military force in Lebanon, engineered the collapse of Hariri's Western-backed unity government in January after he refused to end cooperation with the tribunal. Mikati, his successor, was appointed with Hezbollah's blessing. Lebanon has 30 days to serve out the STL arrest warrants. If the suspects are not arrested within that period, the tribunal can then publicly call on them to surrender. The STL, set up in 2009 by the United Nations, is the first international court with jurisdiction to try an act of terrorism. The Hariri murder sparked a wave of massive protests in Lebanon which, combined with international pressure, forced Syria to withdraw its troops from the country after a 29-year deployment. Syria was widely suspected of having a hand in Hariri's murder but has denied involvement.
