Hezbollah's Nasrallah: Hariri tribunal dominated by U.S., Israel
Hassan Nasrallah calls Hezbollah members indicted in killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri as 'brothers' with an 'honorable history'; says authorities won't be able to arrest them.
By News Agencies Tags: Hezbollah Lebanon Hassan NasrallahHezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that authorities would never be able to arrest four members of his militant group who have been indicted in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
In a televised address, Nasrallah said that "even in 300 years" the men will not be turned in. The Shiite militant group has denied any role in the killing.
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An image grab taken from Lebanon's Hezbollah-run Manar TV shows Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised speech at an undisclosed location in Lebanon on July 2, 2011. |
| Photo by: AFP |
Nasrallah's speech marked his first comments since the indictment was announced on Thursday. A high-ranking Hezbollah militant and three others were accused in the 2005 assassination of Hariri.
Narallah insisted that the UN-backed tribunal investigating the Hariri assassination was dominated by America and Israel and called its decision "an aggression against us and our holy warriors."
Nasrallah said the suspects named in the indictment were brothers "who have an honorable history in resisting Israeli occupation."
"I tell our followers not to be worried, the tribunal is part of the war against us, because we are leading a confrontation against Israel..." Nasrallah said.
The suggestion that the group was involved in the assassination threatens to plunge Lebanon into a new and violent crisis as the case has further polarized Lebanon's rival factions.
Nasrallah said on Saturday that the tribunal aimed to create strife in Lebanon but that the country would not descend into conflict.
"The most dangerous goal of this tribunal is to create strife, a civil war in Lebanon, or especially a division between the Sunni and Shiite in Lebanon," Nasrallah said.
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well again to target resistance.
Why should the Lebanese trust UN instruments when the UN could not enforce a resolution to get Israel out of south Lebanon. It took 22 years of blood, sweat and resistance to get them out. Similarly why can't the UN implement the resolutions for the withdrawal of Israel from the from the land occupied in 1967, or implement the right of return to the Palestinians and the borders of 1948. The UN is a joke and as Nasrallah showed it is corrupt, one sided and has been deemed in-effective by Israeli refusal to recognize its resolutions. So if Nasrallah does the same, he has a valid point!
The USA is meddling in every corner of the world to impose it will and crash those not bowing to it will. the leader of Hezbollah is right! i think the USA/isreal have no business in lebanon affairs.
But it is nice to see right wing Israelis concerned with justice for Hariri. They seem to like him much more than he liked Israeli Jews.
My intention was to hunt down the rats myself but to hang about here on Earth longer than , "300" years just isn't feasible
Duh!
of our country are 100% with Nasrallah, I voted for a Muslim party just to give Aoun and Sayyed support.
the majority of lebanese are for democracy, one state, one army, clearly against the terrorist group holding the country hostage, further preventing the country from evolving into a strong independent secular democracy. The tides have turned throughout the middle east. How much longer can dictatorships and terrorist organizations realistically last?! Hezbollah and Nasrallah's days are numbered...
Terrorist thugs stick together! What a wonderfull place the ME would be without hezbollah, hamas and the rest of the terrorist gangs!
Waiting for your comments against Israel...
is that he reminds me of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. Same bizarre getup. Same beard. Same extremist opinions. Same estimation of women. Same intolerance of others' beliefs.
'brothers' with an 'honorable history' of killing other brothers.
They should be able to defend themselves in court.
Just like the 4 Lebanese Generals who were arrested for 4 years by evidence by FALSE witnesses that the STL till this day is protecting these 'witnesses'. The STL even refuse to show the 'evidence' that they had against the generals. All those involved in the 'STL' are FBI, CIA, MI6, Germany and French intelligence who all regard the accused as Terrorists. Do you think they will be able to defend themselves???? Plus indicted without providing evidence????? This seems a big stich up???
Nasrallah is rapidly becoming an anachronism. Younger people in Lebanon and the Arab world are losing interest in his "resistance", eternal war, rhetoric. Even if the STL stops here it has done its job. Nasrallah's credibility has taken a number of blows recently; the hypocrisy re Syria; the missteps on Bahrain; The desperation and flailing about in response to the STL; turning his guns on other Lebanese in 2008. Even the glow from the "victory" in 2006 (A "victory" he apologized for btw), has worn off as Lebanese see that it only brought them misery Only the slavish devotees don't see him for what he is; a thug, a hypocrite and an Iranian stooge.
Of course the criminal is a Brother of a Criminal. He is being transparent and telling the truth
"Walid Jumblatt, the Druse politician whose votes proved crucial in electing Mr. Miqati, said Mr. Hariri had failed 'to see the realities on the ground'." - NYTimes// The fall of Lebanon into the hands of Hizballah was not foreordained at all. Saad Hariri is the chief Sunni politician in Lebanon, in a country where chiefs are followed by the masses of their sect. So how did he lose the prime-ministership, and how did the US lose while the Syria-Iran axis won? As Walid Jumblatt was saying, there is a reality on the ground. That reality is that Hizballah is a strong militia, being pushed to the corner by the UN investigation of Papa Hariri's assassination and determined to prevent a trial where it might be found guilty. One option for Hizballah was to try and take over Lebanon by force, which would have sparked a new civil war. The Druze had nothing to gain from such a civil war. They opted to prevent it. Indeed, Saad Hariri himself understood the situation and at some point agreed to pull Lebanon out of the international court (which might have put an end to it). And then came the US on a white horse, bearing the gift of "justice for all". Obama and Hillary advised Hariri to stick with "justice". (In fact, they astonishingly continued with that line even AFTER the Hariri government fell.) Hariri complied, so the Druze had to bring him down in order to prevent the catastrophe that the US was engineeing. The rest is history. Basic lesson for all doctors and diplomats: If the cure has side effects that are worse than the disease, don't use it. So trivial for doctors, so hard for lawyers who specialize in justice. The truly sad thing is that the consequences were so obvious from the start.