Hariri Back to Jeddah, MP Fadlallah: Hezbollah Not Afraid of the Indictment

Sunday 26 September 2010

Hariri Back to Jeddah, MP Fadlallah: Hezbollah Not Afraid of the Indictment

26/09/2010 Prime Minister Saad Harir on Saturday left Beirut to Jeddah, and he had "no scheduled visit to Syria", as Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Hassan Fadlallah assured that Hezbollah is not afraid of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) but has concerns on its effect in the country.

According to a statement issued by his office, the PM's visit to Jeddah was special.

On the other hand, sources close to the premier denied that he was scheduled to visit the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday, the Central News Agency reported. "PM Hariri's meetings agenda doesn't mention a visit to the Syrian capital this week," the sources stressed.

Recent reports have suggested that Hariri may be heading to Syria on Tuesday given his recent phone call with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Kuwait News Agency quoted a source close to Hariri as saying that the prime minister's visit could last a day "where he will hold talks with a number of high-ranking Syrian officials, including President Assad, on developing bilateral ties."

Tension ran high in Lebanon after reports said that the (STL) would soon issue its indictment in the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri, accusing Hezbollah members of committing the murder.

For its part, Hezbollah declared clear positions from the indictment, through repeatedly warning from the damage that the indictment will cause to Lebanon and the region.

Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Hassan Fadlallah told New TV on Sunday that Hezbollah Hezbollah is not afraid of the STL’s pending indictment, adding that the problem is with the project which is aiming at targeting the resistance.

“The problem is with the project that began with [UN Security Council] Resolution 1559 [issued in 2004], the 2006 July War and the STL indictment that aim at targeting the Resistance,” Fadlallah said, adding that “some Lebanese parties are involved [in the project].”

He said that Hariri is primarily requested to resolve the controversies regarding the STL adding that “the premier has many responsibilities to bear.”
“We did not ask anything of Hariri in specific because he knows what he should do,” Fadlallah said, adding that his bloc does not have a problem with Hariri as the head of a national-unity cabinet.

Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon Sheikh Nabil Qaouq stressed on Saturday that no indictment, international accusation, or international resolutions would affect the party's determination in its resistance, stressing that the July war goals wouldn’t be achieved through the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

"The camp of the July 2006 war has now become that of the indictment, which is being used against Hezbollah," Sheikh Qaouq said. "If they think that the indictment will bind Hezbollah, then the results will backfire against them," he noted.

On Friday, MP Nawwaf Moussawi warned that "the period that will follow the indictment won't be the same as the one before, and any group in Lebanon that might endorse this indictment will be treated as one of the tools of the U.S.-Israeli invasion, and it will have the same fate as the invader."

"Those must not only be worried, but also panic-stricken, and we tell everyone that those who couldn't defeat the Resistance through fire and iron and billions of dollars will not be able to defeat it through an indictment or anything else," Moussawi warned.