BEIRUT: Hezbollah had the capability to assassinate former statesman Rafik Hariri in 2005, Future Movement official Mustafa Alloush said Friday, but proving that they did so is up to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
"If I was asked directly, I would say that this party had the capability to assassinate Rafik Hariri, but proving this fact is the responsibility of the international tribunal and this court is one of Hezbollah's main concerns today,” Alloush said during a seminar organized by the Future Movement in Sidon titled “Hezbollah and its difficult choices.”
The STL, established in 2007 to investigate the assassination of Hariri, has indicted four members of Hezbollah, but the party’s chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said the accused will never be apprehended, adding that they were innocent of the crime and describing them as honorable men of the resistance.
“Revealing facts behind the crime would show this party to be a terrorist group domestically and internationally,” Alloush said.
The FM official also added that Hezbollah has long been opposed to Hariri’s policies and said that the party had tried to present a “friendly” relationship between Nasrallah and Hariri in the media.
Future Movement has launched a campaign against Hezbollah following the collapse of the government of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the slain former prime minister. The party has accused Hezbollah of placing Lebanon in confrontation with the STL and the international community due to its vocal opposition to the court and continued affirmation that Hezbollah will not cooperate with the tribunal.
Nasrallah has described the United Nations-backed court as an Israel-U.S. tool aimed at targeting the resistance and sowing strife in the country.
Alloush said that Hezbollah’s support for President Bashar Assad’s government during the six-month uprising in Syria has damaged its relationship with the Syrian people.
Nasrallah has echoed Assad’s remarks that the anti-government protests in Syria are part of a conspiracy against the country.