BEIRUT: Hezbollah will release more damaging information about the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), further harming its credibility, MP Hasan Fadlallah said Monday.
“The international tribunal is behind us in terms of its indictments but we will confront it in the same way we have done in the past by revealing its gaps and mistakes and its politicization targeting [the resistance],” Fadlallah said during a ceremony in south Lebanon.
He also reiterated Hezbollah’s stance toward the STL, describing the court as a tool in the hands of powerful players in the international community to eliminate the resistance after “they failed to do so in the 2006 July war” with Israel.
The STL, established in 2007 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1757 to probe the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, issued sealed indictments and arrest warrants against four members of Hezbollah on June 30. Lebanon has 30 days to serve the arrest warrants.
Hezbollah has repeatedly denied involvement in the assassination of Hariri and has accused the court of being part of “U.S.-Israeli project” aimed at targeting the resistance group and inciting strife in Lebanon.
The March 14 coalition has criticized Hezbollah on its handling of the issue of the STL and has urged the new government, dominated by the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, to continue supporting the STL.
Fadlallah said the resistance today was stronger than it was in the past and was well-prepared to fend off all threats and aggression against it, echoing similar comments made by other Hezbollah lawmakers.
“We have moved into a new phase that will continue as long as the resistance remains a target,” he added.
During the ceremony in the town of Inata, Fadlallah said Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s Cabinet would correct mistakes committed by the previous government led by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the head of the March 14 movement.
“The government will work on decreasing the burden of debt and the problems of water, electricity, health and education accumulated from many years,” Fadlallah said.