The U.N.-backed Lebanon tribunal released on Friday the names, photographs and details of four men wanted for the assassination of statesman Rafik al-Hariri in a bid to speed up their arrest. Lebanon received the indictments and four arrest warrants from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) last month. While the suspects were not named then, Lebanese officials said the accused were members of the Shi’ite militant movement Hezbollah.
Hezbollah accuses the tribunal of being a tool of the United States and Israel and denies any link to the 2005 assassination. There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah. Earlier this month, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the authorities would never arrest members of the Shi’ite militant group. He dismissed the accusations as unfounded and a failed attempt to sow strife and bring down Lebanon’s new Hezbollah-backed government.
“They cannot find them or arrest them in 30 days or 60 days, or in a year, two years, 30 years or 300 years,” Nasrallah said at the time. Under the court proceedings, Lebanese officials have 30 days to make arrests after receiving indictments.
