US seeks to bury truth in Hariri case

A lawmaker from Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc says the US does not want the truth to come out in the case of the former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri’s assassination.

“Those in Lebanon who believe America is interested in the truth behind the Hariri murder are wrong,” said Hussein al-Moussawi, lawmaker affiliated with the Lebanese resistance movement, on Saturday, Naharnet reported.

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

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 Prime Minister Saad Hariri that the STL “will accuse some undisciplined [Hezbollah] members.” Nasrallah strongly rejected the allegation, warning that the plot was part of “a dangerous project that is targeting the resistance.”

However, leading Lebanese daily As-Safir wrote last month about “intensive” pressure that Washington had applied under the slogan “no discussions before an indictment is issued.”

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

“The US policy does not want justice,” Moussawi noted.

Speaking on Wednesday, the lawmaker said that there was “significant evidence of the Americans’ involvement in the arbitrary indictment expected to be issued.”

This, he said, was shown by the remarks made recently by John Bolton, the United States former ambassador to the United Nations, “It is almost certain that prominent Syrian officials and Hezbollah members will be accused” of involvement in the assassination.

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