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Lebanon: Hizbollah is Behind PM Hariri Assassination According to UN

nirreich

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UN court indicts four Hezbollah members over Hariri car bomb
Fears of further civil strife in Lebanon as special tribunal for 2005 car bomb names senior Hezbollah men

Martin Chulov in Beirut
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 30 June 2011 12.57 BST

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Lebanon's senior prosecutor has received criminal indictments for four members of the Shia militant group Hezbollah, who are accused of assassinating the country's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in a car bomb attack six years ago.

The move is a significant step in an investigation into the attack that killed Hariri and 21 others on the Beirut waterfront on 14 February 2005.

Security was immediately tightened in the city after investigators from the Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon visited the offices of the prosecutor general, Sayyed Merza, who now has the discretion to name the suspects.

Within minutes of the meeting finishing, Lebanese media outlets named the men as Assad Sabra, Hassan Issa, Salim Ayachhe and Moustaf Badredine, all senior members of Hezbollah. Hariri's son, Saad, welcomed the indictments and called it a "historic moment".

Hezbollah did not respond immediately to the indictments which, if they led to convictions, would pose a serious threat to the group's claim as a nationalist resistance movement.

One senior official said this morning that Hezbollah felt it had done enough to prepare for the indictments with a lengthy and vocal campaign to discredit the investigation.

Elsewhere, members of Hariri's political bloc called on the Lebanese parliament to continue support for the tribunal, which Lebanon partly funds.

Hezbollah and its political allies, roughly half the country's Druze and Christians, had been trying to force a government led by Saad Hariri, to withdraw support for the tribunal and stop funding it.

After realising Hariri would not agree, Hezbollah and its allies quit the cabinet in January, causing the collapse of the unity government. The bloc now has a slim majority in government, which it will likely use to target the tribunal.

Lebanon's cabinet will distribute a policy statement on Friday on how to deal with the tribunal. Regardless of its stance, the tribunal will hold hearings in The Hague later this year.

The legitimacy of its claims will likely first be contested in districts of Lebanon, which remain deeply split and seemingly implacably aligned behind sectarian banners.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011

UN court indicts four Hezbollah members over Hariri car bomb | World news | The Guardian
 
Rafik Hariri Assassination Arrest Warrants Issued By U.N. Court

Rafik Hariri Assassination Arrest Warrants Issued By U.N. Court

r-RAFIK-HARIRI-large570.jpg


BEIRUT -- A U.N.-backed court indicted at least one senior Hezbollah member and three other suspects Thursday in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a killing that transformed this tiny Arab nation and brought down its government earlier this year.

The implication of Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah – the dominant player in Lebanon's new government – threatens to plunge this tiny Arab nation on Israel's northern border into a new and violent crisis by opening up sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites.

An international tribunal issued the indictments and arrest warrants Thursday without releasing the names of the accused. But a Lebanese judicial official who saw the warrants read the names to The Associated Press, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

One of the people named is Mustafa Badreddine, believed to have been Hezbollah's deputy military commander. He is the brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh and is suspected of involvement in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people.

The other suspects are: Salim Ayyash, also known as Abu Salim; Assad Sabra and Hassan Anise, who changed his name to Hassan Is..

Abraham Bryan, an expert on Hezbollah affairs who writes for the leading An-Nahar newspaper, said Badreddine is the only well-known suspect named in the indictment.

"Hezbollah surrounds its military leadership with secrecy," he said. "Nobody knows the three others. ... Are they alive or not? Are these their real names or no?"

The U.N.-backed Hariri tribunal had long been expected to accuse members of Hezbollah – something the Iranian-backed militant group has insisted it will not accept. Lebanon recently formed a new government that gives Hezbollah unprecedented political power.

There have been lingering fears that tensions over the tribunal could lead to street protests and a new crisis in a country where stability has long been shaky.
 
Hizbollah and their Iranian puppet masters are despicable terrorists. Someday they will get what's coming to them --- martyrdom!!
 
Hizbollah and their Iranian puppet masters are despicable terrorists. Someday they will get what's coming to them --- martyrdom!!

what are they serving you in your retirement home truth? It's affecting your brain.
When did you Americans become such babies? Labelling your enemies terrorists and shi t lol.

Hezbollah has seats in the parliament and the people of the country have been voting them into power. Iran helps and finances their activities as they are a legitimate party and help serve Iran's interests in the region.

3/4 of the planet's dictators are on America's pay roll and here you are running your mouth off like a desperate man.
 
what are they serving you in your retirement home truth? It's affecting your brain.
When did you Americans become such babies? Labelling your enemies terrorists and shi t lol.

Hezbollah has seats in the parliament and the people of the country have been voting them into power. Iran helps and finances their activities as they are a legitimate party and help serve Iran's interests in the region.

3/4 of the planet's dictators are on America's pay roll and here you are running your mouth off like a desperate man.

It`s best to remember that what most of us call evil, Abii here calls a legitimate party, so there`s that.
 
It`s best to remember that what most of us call evil, Abii here calls a legitimate party, so there`s that.

If the United States and its allies are legitimate and sovereign entities, than so is Hezbollah.
They are voted into office by the people of Lebanon and as such, they are a legitimate organization. If you have an arguement against this than lets hear it. If killing innocents is the criteria for being called a terrorist than Israel has killed more innocent Lebanese than vice-versa.
 
If killing innocents is the criteria for being called a terrorist than Israel has killed more innocent Lebanese than vice-versa.
The UN has passed more resolutions condemning Israel than it has all other states combined
So, that's final then. As long as Israel exists then Pakistanis and Iranians condemn the Lebanese to eternal injustice at the hands of murderous non-Israelis.

What makes a terrorist state, exactly?
 
So, that's final then. As long as Israel exists then Pakistanis and Iranians condemn the Lebanese to eternal injustice at the hands of murderous non-Israelis.

What makes a terrorist state, exactly?
wtf is this guy smoking?
Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization! The people voting for them are also Lebanese.

here are the people you are pissing your pants over
60807232-lebanese-hezbollah.jpg

hezbs.jpg

120506-hezbollah-1.jpg

hezbf3.jpg

_42377044_nasrallah_afp416.jpg
 
wtf is this guy smoking?
The commenters I quoted didn't primarily want to talk about Lebanon and I responded in the same spirit.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization! The people voting for them are also Lebanese.
Lebanon has a sectarian system where the parties are subject to democratic selection. link Hezbollah has won only 14 out of 128 seats in parliament. However, in Lebanon decisive power is wielded less by the easily-paralyzed government than by the armed parties themselves in proportion to their strength. Hezbollah is the best-armed, so it usually gets its way. Obviously a large majority of people in Lebanon despise Hezbollah or more would have voted for them, yes?
 
The reason you getting flak by some posters about hezbullah being blamed is because in their environment, whats an assassination attempt or successful one, here and there... you can't be a legit party unless your leadership has ordered a hit on a PM or President...
 
Hezbollah has seats in the parliament and the people of the country have been voting them into power.
Agreed. Hezbollah WAS a legitimate resistance movement till the time Israel occupied parts of Lebanon. It lost all legitimacy as an armed resistance movement once Israel withdrew in 2000.
Now the question is, is Hezbollah has no one to fight against why are they still keeping their arms? Isnt Lebanese Army enough? Why two military powers, one legitimate and the other militant dictating policies?
Iran helps and finances their activities as they are a legitimate party and help serve Iran's interests in the region.

Iran doesnt even share borders with Lebanon. What interests does Iran have supporting only one what can be called a militant organization as against the whole political fabric of Lebanon?
 
Agreed. Hezbollah WAS a legitimate resistance movement till the time Israel occupied parts of Lebanon. It lost all legitimacy as an armed resistance movement once Israel withdrew in 2000.
Now the question is, is Hezbollah has no one to fight against why are they still keeping their arms? Isnt Lebanese Army enough? Why two military powers, one legitimate and the other militant dictating policies?
no it's not.
Not only are they EXTREMELY weak, but they are also allied with the West. The Lebanese army is not able to keep the country safe from invasions. Hezbollah has the better toys, training, tactics and a stronger will. The people of Lebanon voted them into power and as such, they are legitimate. You're Indian not Lebanese, so how can you claim that they are illegitimate when the Labense ppl themseleves vote for Hezbollah regularly?
Iran doesnt even share borders with Lebanon. What interests does Iran have supporting only one what can be called a militant organization as against the whole political fabric of Lebanon?
that is by far the dumbest comment I've ever read
1) The US doesn't share borders with ANY of the govts it supports.
I had no idea you had to share a border to have an interest in another country! lol

2) Although mostly shias vote for them, they have support among Christians and Sunnis as well.
for example
A%20Christian%20woman%20supporter%20of%20Hezbollah1.jpg

_42357940_003301591.jpg




I love how you guys are just fighting for a way to somehow discredit Hezbollah lmao
 
Big bad terrorist hezbollah lol

According to a report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affaris, social services operated by Hezbollah in Lebanon “are worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.” According to that 2006 report, these social services include “at least four hospitals, 12 clinics, 12 schools and two agricultural centres that provide farmers with technical assistance and training.”

Hezbollah’s charitable work illustrates their slogan: “The hand that fights, the hand that builds.” One hand provides food, medicine, education, etc, while the other hand still defiantly holds aloft the trademark Kalishnokov rifle.

The medical care provided by Hezbollah is “cheaper than in most of the country’s private hospitals and free for Hezbollah members.” And Hezbollah’s medical facilities also have the advantage, from a charitable point of view, of being located in the economically poorest and politically most marginalized parts of the country, that is to say, wherever Shi’ite Muslims live, including especially the southern suburbs of Beirut, much of the southern half of the country, and the Bekaa Valley.

Hezbollah also operates “an environmental department and an extensive social assistance programme.” The social assistance progams, among other things, “provide financial and food assistance to the poor,” and, according to Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Nablusi, “We also run an emergency fund for instant care in case of immediate hospitalisation.”

About a year after the above mentioned UN report came out, Harper’s Magazine online published an excerpt from Augustus Richard Norton’s book Hezbollah: A Short History. The excerpt appeared in Ken Silverstein’s column on March 14, 2007:

Hezbollah offers an array of social services to its constituents that include construction companies, schools, hospitals, dispensaries, and micro-finance initiatives (notably al-Qard al-Hasan, literally the “good loan,” which began making loans in 1984 and now offers about 750 small loans a month). These tend to be located in predominantly Shiite areas, but some serve anyone requesting help. Hezbollah hospital and clinic staff also treat all walk-in patients, regardless of political views or their sect, for only a small fee….

The social services institutions that do exist in the Shiite community were put to an extraordinary test in 2006 by the Israeli attacks that targeted broad swaths of that community and left as many as fifteen thousand homes destroyed or badly damaged. The severe, extensive damage has overwhelmed even Hezbollah’s services framework, but the party’s prompt action to meet its constituents’ needs is a vivid example of the competence and professionalism that has won Hezbollah extensive support among many Lebanese Shiites.

More important than the specifics of any one association is the evidence that a palpable sense of community and religious commitment (iltizam) now exist that emphasize that a mark of faith is to offer a helping hand to others and participate in the community. Ayatollah Fadlallah is known for capturing this ethos when he says that he does not want followers but rather partners. It is impossible to appreciate the striking durability and loyalty that modern Shiite groups such as Hezbollah (or comparable groups in Iraq, for instance) generate unless one understands that their strength derives from the strong social fabric that they have woven over the years.
 
Hezbollah offers an array of social services to its constituents that include construction companies, schools, hospitals, dispensaries -
In the areas it controls Hezbollah allows no one to trade or deliver services without Hezbollah's involvement, not even the Lebanese government. It is another leverage of control upon the population - including its own membership. With that kind of absolute power over the well-being of its subjects, it's quite reasonable for other Lebanese to worry that Hezbollah may have compelled otherwise well-disposed people to assassinate a beloved Lebanese leader.

That said, this is just an indictment, not a conviction. Innocent until proven guilty is the rule, right? Unless, of course, they decide to become fugitives...
 

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