Hezbollah leader refuses to hand over Hariri suspects

Hassan Nasrallah defies UN-backed tribunal’s arrest warrants for four Hezbollah members wanted for 2005 assassination Hezbollah’s leader has vowed never to turn over four members of his Shia militant group who have been indicted in the 2005 murder of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. In a defiant speech, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said that “even in 300 years” authorities will not be able to touch them. In his first comments since the indictments were announced Thursday , he promised that the country would not see a new “civil war” linked to the findings of the UN-backed tribunal. But Saturday’s assurance came with a tacit warning that peace in Lebanon depends on the government not pushing ahead with the arrests. Nasrallah also denounced the six-year investigation as a plot by Israel and the US and said it was “an aggression against us and our holy warriors”. Bursts of celebratory gunfire and fireworks erupted in Beirut immediately after Nasrallah’s comments. Hezbollah, which gets crucial support from Iran and Syria, has denied any role in the killing. The accusations that Hezbollah – the most powerful political and military force in Lebanon – had a role in the 2005 Beirut truck bombing that killed Hariri threatens to plunge the country into a new and violent crisis. Nasrallah, however, sought to allay such fears and said “there will be no civil war in Lebanon”. “This is because there is a responsible government in Lebanon that will not act with revenge,” he added. Hezbollah has amassed growing political clout in the government this year, having toppled the previous administration in January when then-prime minister Saad Hariri refused to renounce the tribunal investigating his father’s death. The new prime minister, Najib Miqati, who was Hezbollah’s pick for the post, issued a vague promise on Thursday that Lebanon would respect international resolutions as long as they did not threaten the civil peace. The ambiguous wording leaves ample room to brush aside the arrest warrants if street battles are looming. The cabinet is packed with Hezbollah allies, so there is little enthusiasm within the current leadership to press forward with the case. Even if Saad Hariri were still in power, however, it’s unlikely he would be able to force Lebanese authorities to arrest the men to do so– they would have to directly confront a well-armed militant group that wields serious power over the Lebanese state. The bombing that killed Hariri and 22 other people in February 2005 was one of the most dramatic political assassinations in the Middle East. A billionaire businessman, Hariri was Lebanon’s most prominent politician after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990. In the six years since his death, the investigation has sharpened some of Lebanon’s most intractable issues: the role of Hezbollah and its massive arsenal, and the country’s history of sectarian divisions and violence. Lebanon Global terrorism Middle East guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 3, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.