The Party of God Innocent of Blame
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Slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri (Photo: AFP) |
"A lot of people are waiting for this decision for closure. This tribunal has cost not only money but blood." "It will have consequences. I do not expect turmoil in the streets. I think Prime Minister Hariri was wise enough to make sure this does not turn into a sectarian issue." Basem Shaab, Saad al-Hariri diplomatic adviser
"While the future Movement and Hezbollah seem to be on alert and trying to avoid any repercussions, some other actors might jump in and react given the current level of tensions." Mohanad Hage Ali, Carnegie Middle East Center
A man runs past Hariri's burning convoy in Beirut on Feb.
14, 2005. The massive car bomb killed Lebanon's former prime minister on
the city's waterfront. (Mohamed Azakir/JS/ACM/Reuters)
"The trial chamber is satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the prosecution has proved the guilt of Salim Jamil Ayyash on all counts charged. Mr. Ayyash had a central role in the execution of the attack and directly contributed to it. Mr. Ayyash intended to kill Mr. Hariri and had the required knowledge about the circumstances of the assassination mission, including that explosives were the means to be used." "The trial chamber is of the view that Syria and Hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate Mr. Hariri and his political allies, however, there is no evidence that the Hezbollah leadership had any involvement in Mr. Hariri's murder and there is no direct evidence of Syrian involvement." Presiding Judge David Re, The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, The Hague
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, an international court established by the United Nations jointly with Lebanon to bring to trial suspects in the political 2005 bombing in Lebanon of former prime minister Raffik al-Hariri, came with a price tag of $1 billion, and although the verdict of guilt, naming the four members of Hezbollah involved in the assassination of 22 people, including Mr. Hariri was expected, the actual conclusion was wan in its condemnation and the responsibility it pinpointed, geared to exact as little reaction as possible.
It was a foregone conclusion; no one in Lebanon was unaware that Syria and Hezbollah conspired to assassinate their major critic. Even so, it speaks to the Byzantine and morbidly peculiar politics of the troubled country that Rafik Hariri's son Saad practised the kind of cynical realpolitik that had him accepting the role of prime minister of a country that Hezbollah, acknowledged universally as a puppet terrorist group wholly loyal to Iran as its proxy militia were the de facto rulers of.
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A crater caused by the explosion that killed Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri in 2005 (Photo: AP) |
Four men, all ranking members of Hezbollah were on trial; Salim Jamil Ayash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Assad Hassan Sabra and Hussein Hassan Oneissi, all in absentia. All charged with conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack and none of them about to be turned over by Hezbollah to face justice for in very fact they were performing Hezbollah's ordered duty. Ayyash the major malefactor, charged with committing a terrorist act, homicide of 22 people and attempted homicide of 226. The others recognized as accomplices.
Fifteen years have passed since that massive explosion in Beirut killed the targeted billionaire whom Iran and Syria considered a threat against their plans for Lebanon. In the interim following his death as a major resistor of their plans, Lebanon completely fell to their malign influence, with Hezbollah succeeding in becoming a major political player in Lebanon with its powerful militia, and its increased presence in parliament.
The August 4 port blast where 178 people wee killed, six thousand wounded, 200,000 Beirutis made homeless, seemed like a reprise to those in whose memories the previous blast still resonated. The perpetrators one and the same. The Hezbollah penchant for acquiring, accumulating and storing deadly weaponry in among the civilian population well enough known, this time a huge store of ammonium nitrate, the hugely explosive material that finds much favour with Hezbollah.
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The aftermath of the devastating explosion in the Beirut port earlier this month (Photo: AFP) |
Leading the people of Lebanon to decide, finally, that they'd suffered enough under this hybrid government and the deathly rule of Hezbollah, inciting them to take to the streets with banners aloft declaring an end to the corrupt government that had excelled in overseeing a ruined economy, massive unemployment, poorly managed pandemic, an inadequate hospital/medical system, and acute hopelessness among the population.
"On Tuesday, after more than 15 years of turmoil, bloodshed, and destitution, as well as the murder of one of the men pursuing the killers, the first-ever international court tribunal established to prosecute terrorist crimes returned a verdictt that no one in Lebanon ever doubted: Hariri was assassinated by senior Hezbollah operatives." "But justice has come under absurd circumstances. The tribunal, which spent more than $1 billion and took 11 years to return one guilty verdict (out of four suspects on trial in absentia), never had the remit to investigate Hezbollah as an organization, and its final verdict was undermined before it had even been read out by the demonstrably ridiculous statement that the court had seen “no evidence that the Hezbollah leadership had any involvement” in the assassination, before returning a guilty verdict for a senior Hezbollah operative, Salim Ayyash. Ayyash was found guilty of co-conspiring to murder Hariri with Mustafa Badreddine, Hezbollah’s second in command, whose case at the tribunal was dropped following his death in Syria in 2016." Oz Katerji, Foreign Policy
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| Judges attend a session of the United Nations-backed Lebanon Tribunal, which is handing down a judgment in the case of four men being tried in absentia for the 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 21 other people. (Piroschka Van De Wouw/Pool/Reuters) |
Labels: Hezbollah, International Criminal Court, Lebanon
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, August 22, 2020
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