Aoun says STL is dead

Following the meeting of the Change and Reform bloc , its leader MP Michel Aoun talked to the media.

As expected he complemented Hezbollah leader on his presentation of the evidence and said this should lead to the launch of an investigation to review the work of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Aoun added : One of the weaknesses of the investigation is excluding Israel from the probe.

He said the investigations should not exclude any suspects, and added : “When MP Gebran Tueni was murdered in 2005 , I said Syria might be behind it. But Syria is not the only one that benefits from killing Tueni …. Today, I am sure Syria was not involved in his murder .”

Aoun concluded that the STL is ‘dead’

Commenting on the arrest of FPM official Brigadier General Fayez Karam, Aoun criticized the media outlets and said they have no right to leak information regarding Karam’s investigation.

Defending FPM he said : “We are not tasked with following up on the citizens’ affairs to find out who they are dealing with”.

He added : “Those who serve Israel through their political stances are the ones who betray Lebanon. Security forces are requested to preserve the secrecy of investigations with Israeli collaborators” .

Aoun warned : “I hold the ministries of defense, interior, justice and information responsible for controlling the situation in the country to prevent investigation leaks.

Last night and during a televised press conference Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah tried to present evidence to prove that Israel was behind the assassination of Lebanon’s former PM Rafik Hariri .

Many were disappointed in Nasrallah’s presentation because they were expecting convincing solid evidence and specific details on the the van that contained the 2000 kg bomb that killed Hariri. Nasrallah never mentioned the van. According to der Spiegel the van belonged to a Hezbollah official and was loaded with the bombs in the Dhahiyeh, a southern Beirut suburb and a Hezbollah stronghold . The footage on Israeli monitoring activities was dismissed as nothing new and “routine ” The evidence was dismissed as ‘insignificant ‘ by former president Amin Gemayel