Lebanon's Hariri points finger at Hezbollah over Beirut killing

     
Lebanon's former prime minister Saad Hariri implicitly accused Hezbollah of involvement in Friday's bomb attack in Beirut that killed his adviser former minister Mohamad Chatah.         

In a statement released shortly after the attack, Hariri said the assassination of former minister Mohamad Chatah "sends a new message of terrorism" to the March 14 forces.     

"The attack was the result of hatred against anyone who hoists the banners of martyr Rafik Hariri and calls for 'a state that has no partners in' the national decision-making process."            

"Terrorists and criminals are using car bombs and explosions to kill Lebanese innocent people. They killed on Friday morning our friend [Mohamad Chatah] just like they murdered Rafik Hariri and all martyrs of the independence uprising," he added.      

Hariri said the perpetrators' criminal acts will not end, noting that they are keen on dragging Lebanon into sedition, as long as there are parties providing a political cover to those crimes while justifying the presence of armed groups and [illegitimate] weapons.               

"Those who assassinated Chatah are those who killed Rafik Hariri and the ones who want to undermine the Lebanese state," Hariri added.                

"As far as we are concerned the suspects...are those who are fleeing international justice and refusing to represent themselves before the international tribunal," Hariri said, referring to five Hezbollah suspects indicted for the 2005 killing of his father.         

The trial of the five suspects is due to open in The Hague in January.            

The suspects are all fugitives and Hezbollah, which denies any role in the Hariri assassination, has refused to cooperate with the court which it says is politically motivated.               


LBCI/REUTERS