Some are trying to reduce tension in Lebanon, Gemayel

Lebanon’s former president and Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel said during an interview with Al-Arabiya television on Wednesday that some Lebanese officials are trying to reduce tension in Lebanon.

He said that Speaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt are working to establish relations between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hezbollah.

He stressed that the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and its indictment are not in the hands of the Lebanese.

Tension escalated in Lebanon following reports that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will soon issue its indictment into the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Last July, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the tribunal is “an Israeli project” that will indict Hezbollah members. Nasrallah accused Israel of being behind Hariri’s assassination but refused to provide the evidence to STL to support his claim.

There are concerns that should the court indict Hezbollah members, it could lead to clashes similar to those of the May 7, 2008 Events when the Iranian backed Shiite militants occupied the Sunni part of Beirut and tried but failed to occupy the Druze stronghold of Mt Lebanon