Bolton proved US dictates STL

A lawmaker from Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc has condemned accusatory remarks against the Lebanese resistance movement and Syria by former top US diplomat John Bolton.

Writing in the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, Bolton, the United States former ambassador to the United Nations, said, “It is almost certain that prominent Syrian officials and Hezbollah members will be accused” of the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri, Lebanese website Naharnet reported on Wednesday.

Hariri was killed along with more than 20 others in a massive car bombing in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on February 14, 2005.

The Washington-sponsored Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) was established about two years later to investigate the incident.

Hezbollah’s Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said in July that he had been informed by the slain leader’s son and current Premier Saad Hariri that the US-backed STL “will accuse some undisciplined [Hezbollah] members.”

Lawmaker with the Loyalty to Resistance bloc Hussein al-Moussawi said on Wednesday that Bolton’s remarks represented “significant evidence of the Americans’ involvement in the arbitrary indictment expected to be issued,” by the court, Naharnet said.

He warned that the tribunal was “determined to target Lebanon and its people, Army and resistance.”

“Don’t his stances prove that the US administration is the side dictating the work mechanisms of this tribunal and its probe?”

Leading Lebanese daily As-Safir wrote last month about “intensive” pressure that Washington had been applying under the slogan “no discussions before an indictment is issued.”

Syria and Saudi Arabia have entered “strenuous negotiations” aimed at preventing Lebanon from plunging into a political crisis on the back of such indictments, the daily reported recently.

“If you want Lebanon to remain strong, the indictment should be rejected and we should work together to stop its release,” wrote leading Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, citing a plea to Riyadh by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.