Hezbollah, Hariri, Israel, and Germany
In an unusual collision of nationalities and agendas, a German newspaper claims that a secret UN tribunal is accusing Hezbollah of complicity in the murder of a former Lebanese Prime Minister, to which accusation Hezbollah responds that Israeli hasbara is behind the claims. It is darkly ironic to see a conspiracy between Germany and Israel, in relation to accusations against an Islamist group of the assassination of the leader of a nation that Hezbollah may well be a major part of the government post the June elections. The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri is mired in partisan politics, accusal, counter-claims, allegations of Iranian complicity, rumors of Syrian involvement and on. If anyone has the facts, as opposed to a whole lot of theories and circumstantial evidence, then this would be the time to step forward. However, all this meddling ahead of the Lebanese election as we have reported before, smacks of dirty campaign management tricks. Regardless the investigative article from the German newspaper, Der Spiegel, makes fascinating reading for scholars of the region:
The United Nations special tribunal investigating the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri has reached surprising new conclusions — and it is keeping them secret. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, investigators now believe Hezbollah was behind the Hariri murder.
It was an act of virtually Shakespearean dimensions, a family tragedy involving murder and suicide, contrived and real tears — and a good deal of big-time politics.
On February 14, 2005, Valentine’s Day, at 12:56 p.m., a massive bomb exploded in front of the Hotel St. Georges in Beirut, just as the motorcade of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri passed by. The explosives ripped a crater two meters deep into the street, and the blast destroyed the local branch of Britain’s HSBC Bank. Body parts were hurled as far as the roofs of surrounding buildings. Twenty-three people died in the explosion and ensuing inferno, including Hariri, his bodyguards and passersby.
The shock waves quickly spread across the Middle East. Why did Hariri have to die? Who carried out the attack and who was behind it? What did they hope to achieve politically?
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