Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Helou told OTV on Thursday that the security situation in Lebanon will deteriorate if Hezbollah is accused of being behind the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Helou called on Lebanese leaders to defuse the tension prevailing in the country.
His comment comes after Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made a fiery speech last Friday in which he called the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) an” Israeli project” that aims at targeting the party and inciting sectarian strife in Lebanon.
Nasrallah’ speech outraged March 14 MPs and created a lot of political tension in Lebanon.
President Michel Suleiman has been meeting with several Lebanese leaders with the aim of reducing the tension in the country. He met on Tuesday with several Prime Minister Saad Hariri, General Michel Aoun, Future bloc parliamentary leader and former PM MP Fouad Siniora and Hezbollah parliamentary bloc leader MP Mohammad Raad. Yesterday he met with former Lebanese president and Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel, Marada leader MP Suleiman Frangieh and Minister Boutros Harb and today he met with PSP leader MP Walid Jumblatt.
Free Patriotic Movement which is headed by MP Michel Aoun is a close ally of Hezbollah and according to analysts may be well informed about Hezbollah’s plans in case it is indicted in Hariri’s murder.
Yesterday former Lebanese president and phalange party leader Amin Gemayel branded Nasrallah’s speech during an interview with Future TV as” dangerous” because he said the Hezbollah leader spoke as if he is anticipating a new May 7 event . Gemayel warned the party cannot call the shots just because it is armed.
“Nasrallah’s statements do not frighten us, but they make us concerned about the country,” he added.
A report in the As Safir newspaper on Tuesday revealed that the STL will be issuing at least two rounds of the indictments starting from next September and around the end of this year. In the first round prosecutor Daniel Bellemare will reportedly indict three to five members of Hezbollah and in the second round about 20 with various ranks including some key officials.
According to As Safir , Bellemare said that the Lebanese military leaders told him in an informal way that the Lebanese army will not arrest any members of Hezbollah party if indicted by the court.
A report in the German Der Spiegel magazine dated May 2009 revealed a link between Hezbollah and the assassination of Lebanon’s former PM Rafik Hariri, father of the current prime minister.
Media outlets have reported that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will indict members of the Resistance, while Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in turn, has accused the tribunal of being an Israeli project.
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