Hezbollah’s leader has vowed never to turn over four members of his Shiite militant group who have been indicted in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, saying in a defiant speech that “even in 300 years” authorities will not be able to touch them.
In his first comments since the indictments were announced on Thursday, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah promised that the country would not see a new “civil war” linked to the findings of the UN-backed tribunal. However, Saturday’s assurance came with a tacit warning that peace in Lebanon depends on the government bowing to Hezbollah’s power and not pushing ahead with 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.”
Immediately following the speech, bursts of celebratory gunfire and fireworks erupted in Beirut.
Hezbollah, which gets crucial support from Iran and Syria, has denied any role in the killing and accused the UN-backed tribunal of doing Israel’s bidding.
The accusations that Hezbollah — the most powerful political and military force in Lebanon — had a role in the 2005 Beirut truck bombing that killed Rafik Hariri has the potential to plunge the Arab nation on Israel’s northern border into a new and violent crisis.
However, Nasrallah sought to allay those concerns 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 unprecedented political clout in the government this year, having toppled the previous administration in January when then-prime minister Saad Hariri — Rafik Hariri’s son — refused to renounce the tribunal investigating his father’s death.
New Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati was Hezbollah’s pick for the post. He 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.
However, even if Saad Hariri were still in power, it is 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 Rafik Hariri and 22 other people on Feb. 14, 2005, was one of the most dramatic political assassinations in the Middle East. A billionaire businessman, Rafik Hariri was Lebanon’s most prominent politician after a 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 dark history of sectarian divisions and violence.
Rafik Hariri was one of Lebanon’s most powerful Sunni leaders; Hezbollah is a Shiite group.
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