Members of Hizbullah will be among those to face charges in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday. He blamed the United States and Israel, saying the expected indictments were part of a Zionist and American plot to push their Middle East agenda.
The indictment “was written in 2008, but has been postponed for political reasons,” he claimed.
Nasrallah also suggested that Israel, not Syria, was behind the assassination. Regarding the tribunal that looked into the Hariri killing, he said, “As long as it didn't focus on Israeli involvement, it's not an honest tribunal.”
Hizbullah is now a part of the coalition government, making the indictments a potential source of political conflict. Nasrallah said that those charged in the assassination would be treated as “rogue elements,” and their behavior would not be taken as representative of Hizbullah.
Rafik Hariri was killed by a car bomb that killed an additional 22 people. He had opposed Syrian interference in Lebanon. Hizbullah is armed by Syria, and opposed the UN resolution that required Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon five years ago.