Nasrallah: Hezbollah not behind Hariri’s assassination

Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has rejected media allegations that Hezbollah has been behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

In an interview with Al-Manar TV, he termed such moves as an attempt by certain media outlets and lobbies to tarnish the image of Hezbollah. The Hezbollah leader also accused Israel of being behind the smear campaign and described it as the latest move to undermine the resistance.

Nasrallah said although the international investigators have summoned 12 Hezbollah members and close supporters for questioning over the assassination case, they are witnesses not suspects.

“We have nothing to fear and we will cooperate. We have no problem with the investigating committee sitting with our men,” he said. But cooperation has limits and it depends on the track of the investigation.

“We will watch the track of the investigation and other things to decide whether we will continue to cooperate or not,” Nasrallah said.

He added it was not the first time that group members were summoned and there were similar cases since 2008, following the May 7 incidents and right before the release of the four generals. “At that time, some brothers and sisters were summoned and in 2009, others were summoned as well,” he stated.

Nasrallah attacked some media outlets and said it was the French daily Le Figaro which pointed a finger at Hezbollah or some Hezbollah members for the first time in August 2006.

He added the daily published a detailed report which the German magazine Der Spiegel took advantage of. In May last year, it said the court had evidence that members of Hezbollah were behind the assassination.

Elsewhere, Nasrallah said that right after the murder of Hariri, Israeli leaders and the Israeli media were the first ones to accuse Hezbollah of standing behind his assassination.

Nasrallah also rejected media allegations that the UN court is to accuse Hezbollah of being behind Hariri’s murder.

Hariri was Lebanon’s most prominent politician since the 1975-1990 civil war ended. He was killed in a massive truck bombing that set off a spiral of political turmoil in Lebanon.