Hezbollah denies responsibility for killing Hassan

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The crisis in Lebanon following the assassination of Beirut’s top police official appeared to be deepening as the prime minister, Najib Mikati, announced his cabinet would resign as soon as a caretaker national unity government could be formed.

General Wissam al-Hassan was one of 10 people killed and more than a hundred wounded on Friday after a car bomb exploded in a cramped middle-class Christian neighbourhood in central Beirut. The explosion rocked the Sassine Square area just after 3pm, leaving windows shattered and broken glass littering the streets.

The killing of Hassan has followed months of rising tension as Lebanon has been drawn ever deeper into the conflict in neighbouring Syria – whose government has been blamed for the murder.

Hassan was a key investigator for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), the international investigation into the 2005 assassination of another former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, and several other bombings that the Lebanese street has blamed on the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.

Tensions between the pro-Syrian government and an opposition that is openly backing the rebels in Syria’s 18-month civil war have steadily risen over the past year and the death of Hassan, a Sunni, left supporters around the country calling for a national strike and retaliatory violence against the Shia militant group Hezbollah and its allies in the government. Hezbollah denied that it was behind the blast.

Gangs of angry protesters took to the streets on Friday night, blocking roads, burning tyres and calling on the government to resign. As protesters demanded justice and revenge, Hezbollah and its allies began deploying their gunmen to the streets to protect Shia neighbourhoods from revenge attacks by infuriated Sunnis.

Immediately after Hassan’s assassination, the ruling coalition, led by Hezbollah, announced that it would block any attempt to transfer jurisdiction over the investigation into the car bombing to the STL, a move that prompted Mikati to announce that his cabinet would resign as soon as a caretaker national unity government could be formed.

The dramatic announcement came after a security council meeting with President Michel Suleiman to determine the proper course forward the day after the worst bombing to strike Lebanon in the past five years.

The Lebanese government had previously thrown its support behind the STL, but after it became clear that prosecutors planned to indict members of Hezbollah in the Hariri assassination, the group’s allies in the cabinet took steps to limit co-operation with the tribunal. After the cabinet refused to discuss transferring the investigation into Hassan’s murder to the STL, the prime minister made his announcement that he would resign as soon as a caretaker government could be formed.

“The request for a timeframe stems from a realisation that Lebanon is facing a plan to create strife in the country,” the prime minister said. “This is a national issue and we are keen on preserving the nation. We do not want to leave Lebanon in a vacuum,” he added in a statement to reporters after meeting the president.

Hezbollah has described the STL as an Israeli project to sow discord between Lebanese factions already bitterly divided over support for the rebels battling for control of Syria. Hassan was considered one of the key backers of the tribunal and sources say he had recently turned over a considerable amount of evidence in the form of telecoms records to prosecutors, in a move widely criticised by Hezbollah and its allies.

In announcing his eventual resignation, the prime minister also stated that he did not believe that Hassan had been acting in an irresponsible or politically biased manner. “I have never felt that Hassan was aligned with any political camp,” said the premier. “I stress that the investigations must take their course until the truth is revealed.”

Hassan had recently uncovered an alleged plot by Syria’s Lebanese allies to spread discord and instability throughout Lebanon with a wave of bombings and assassinations. Arrested in that plot was former minister Michel Samaha, who prosecutors allege had smuggled explosives into Lebanon from Syria to support the bombing campaign.

The prime minister said it was obvious that Hassan’s murder was tied to that case, as well as to other investigations into a series of political assassinations from 2005 to 2008.

The killing comes as Lebanon is struggling over how to respond to the civil war and humanitarian crisis in Syria. Syrian rebels have taken to using Lebanon as a safe haven and as a jumping-off point for military operations against Syrian troops posted along the border. A close ally of the Syrian regime, Hezbollah is often said to be conducting military operations inside Syria to help dampen the rebellion,in which more than 30,000 people have been killed since it began in the spring of 2011.

The assassination of Hassan prompted Lebanon’s political opposition to place the blame for the killing squarely on Assad, who has had a poor relationship with Lebanon’s Sunnis since Syria was accused of murdering the former prime minister.

Following the car bomb and ensuing violent protests that erupted around the country, the streets of the capital were almost deserted as people stayed indoors in case of violence or further assassinations. In one incident, Lebanese army troops opened fire on a car that ran a roadblock in the Beqa’a Valley, wounding two people.

Throughout Lebanon, security forces took steps to protect government buildings and maintain order. But in Sunni areas, security forces were scarce and cars cruised the streets ordering Sunnis to call for the government’s removal. Several Sunni militiamen could be seen carrying weapons on Friday night in a clear violation of Lebanese law.

Lebanon appears to be destabilising as more than 100,000 Syrians fleeing violence in their country have taken refuge within the country, causing friction between government supporters who oppose supporting the rebels and Sunni politicians who strongly and openly support the Syrian rebel movement.

Guardian

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14 responses to “Hezbollah denies responsibility for killing Hassan”

  1. MekensehParty Avatar
    MekensehParty

    a billion vacuum is better than this hellish government.
    Bring it down!!!

  2. MekensehParty Avatar
    MekensehParty

    a billion vacuum is better than this hellish government.
    Bring it down!!!

  3. nagy_michael2 Avatar
    nagy_michael2

    The party of denial hiding behind the resistance. the only thing they’re resisting is peace and prosperity to Lebanon. The only thing they resist is anyone investigating any murdering of M14 or people who are against them. they can deny all the like but their fingerpoints all over these killings. otherwise if they accusing israel why do they object handing over all the communications tapes/info whatever to the investigators? why did they object in recent cases of Harb and previously Geagea.. deny and intimidate and killing that’s they’re good at. Ask them to fix the economy or do something right for lebanon. no whatever syria wants they’re more obliged to help Syria destroy Lebanon. Bravo the resistance of peace and advancement of Lebanon to the next century. thank you for taking us into chaos and wars all for the sake of beloved Iran and the mullahs. Kill all you like you may kill 20 of us but soon you will all die under tons of israeli bombings. one way or another the wrath of God will burn you in hell.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      The trashing of Tripoli continues ….

  4. nagy_michael2 Avatar
    nagy_michael2

    The party of denial hiding behind the resistance. the only thing they’re resisting is peace and prosperity to Lebanon. The only thing they resist is anyone investigating any murdering of M14 or people who are against them. they can deny all the like but their fingerpoints all over these killings. otherwise if they accusing israel why do they object handing over all the communications tapes/info whatever to the investigators? why did they object in recent cases of Harb and previously Geagea.. deny and intimidate and killing that’s they’re good at. Ask them to fix the economy or do something right for lebanon. no whatever syria wants they’re more obliged to help Syria destroy Lebanon. Bravo the resistance of peace and advancement of Lebanon to the next century. thank you for taking us into chaos and wars all for the sake of beloved Iran and the mullahs. Kill all you like you may kill 20 of us but soon you will all die under tons of israeli bombings. one way or another the wrath of God will burn you in hell.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      The trashing of Tripoli continues ….

  5. wargame1 Avatar

    When did this Majoosis terrorist group claimed responsibility of the terrorist attack they do on civilians? We know you do it hezbushaitan and you need to whitewash by blaming it on Israel. That conspiracy theory is not going to work here. The Al Qaeda buga buga will not work either because this Al Qaeda masters are the Majoosis Mullahs in Iran and the Syrian Tyrant Bashar Al-Qaeda. 

  6. wargame1 Avatar

    When did this Majoosis terrorist group claimed responsibility of the terrorist attack they do on civilians? We know you do it hezbushaitan and you need to whitewash by blaming it on Israel. That conspiracy theory is not going to work here. The Al Qaeda buga buga will not work either because this Al Qaeda masters are the Majoosis Mullahs in Iran and the Syrian Tyrant Bashar Al-Qaeda. 

  7. Hizbullah’s rockets were meant to be used against Israel. Instead, it appears they are now being fired at Arabs. Syrian opposition forces say Hizbullah has been firing hundreds of rockets into Syria on a daily basis, and is a full participant in the Syrian civil war.
    Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Syrian opposition Local Coordination Committee-member, Mohamed al-Homsi, accused Hizbullah of “intervening in the fighting alongside the Syrian regime with all of its power,” adding “Hizbullah is firing its rockets – the same rockets that it claims are to fight Israel – into Syrian territory to kill Syrian people.”
    Al-Homsi, who is a member of the Homs Local Coordination Committee, confirmed that “between 100 and 150 rockets and mortar shells are being fired by Hizbullah into the Syrian town of al-Qaseer and the surrounding villages on a daily basis, from the group’s military positions in Hermel [on the Syrian-Lebanese border].”
    He told Asharq Al-Awsat “it has become clear that Hizbullah is taking part, with all of its strength, in this battle, which it considers itself to be a part of.” He said the missile barrages were intensifying and that Iranian proxy militia has sent thousands of its troops into Syria to fight rebel forces.
    The British Daily Telegraph has also published a report confirming that Hizbullah is launching rocket attacks into Syria. The report quoted a Lebanese resident of the border town of al-Qaa who said: “They are concentrating on hitting the villages where the Free Syrian Army are, to weaken them before launching a ground attack. I have seen the rockets firing; they pass over your head.
    There was an eyewitness account by a Telegraph reporter: “Driving across the Hermel plains of the northern Bekaa, 10 miles from the frontier with Syria, The Daily Telegraphcould hear the sound of rocket fire. The salvoes came in waves – the dull thuds of the launchers shattering the stillness of the night air as they released their loads. Half an hour later, the tempo quickened to a near constant onslaught, filling the valley with the sounds of warfare until the early hours of the morning.”
    Local residents said the attacks began six weeks ago.

  8. Hizbullah’s rockets were meant to be used against Israel. Instead, it appears they are now being fired at Arabs. Syrian opposition forces say Hizbullah has been firing hundreds of rockets into Syria on a daily basis, and is a full participant in the Syrian civil war.
    Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Syrian opposition Local Coordination Committee-member, Mohamed al-Homsi, accused Hizbullah of “intervening in the fighting alongside the Syrian regime with all of its power,” adding “Hizbullah is firing its rockets – the same rockets that it claims are to fight Israel – into Syrian territory to kill Syrian people.”
    Al-Homsi, who is a member of the Homs Local Coordination Committee, confirmed that “between 100 and 150 rockets and mortar shells are being fired by Hizbullah into the Syrian town of al-Qaseer and the surrounding villages on a daily basis, from the group’s military positions in Hermel [on the Syrian-Lebanese border].”
    He told Asharq Al-Awsat “it has become clear that Hizbullah is taking part, with all of its strength, in this battle, which it considers itself to be a part of.” He said the missile barrages were intensifying and that Iranian proxy militia has sent thousands of its troops into Syria to fight rebel forces.
    The British Daily Telegraph has also published a report confirming that Hizbullah is launching rocket attacks into Syria. The report quoted a Lebanese resident of the border town of al-Qaa who said: “They are concentrating on hitting the villages where the Free Syrian Army are, to weaken them before launching a ground attack. I have seen the rockets firing; they pass over your head.
    There was an eyewitness account by a Telegraph reporter: “Driving across the Hermel plains of the northern Bekaa, 10 miles from the frontier with Syria, The Daily Telegraphcould hear the sound of rocket fire. The salvoes came in waves – the dull thuds of the launchers shattering the stillness of the night air as they released their loads. Half an hour later, the tempo quickened to a near constant onslaught, filling the valley with the sounds of warfare until the early hours of the morning.”
    Local residents said the attacks began six weeks ago.

  9. Even Mikati could not sing in tune with the disgusting ways of the Assad regime and Hezbollah. While I understand many Shiites support Hezbollah, and Hezbollah did some good things before 2000, it’s time for positive change, and Hezbollah does not represent the future from its actions.

  10. Even Mikati could not sing in tune with the disgusting ways of the Assad regime and Hezbollah.

  11. jim dandy Avatar

    hezbolla did it nasrallah will be punished

  12. jim dandy Avatar

    hezbolla did it nasrallah will be punished

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