MP Marwan Hamadeh responded Sunday to Jumblatt’s statements by saying that he would like to “reassure” Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt that the March 14 parties “do not want to disturb civil peace.”
“I would like to reassure Jumblatt that no one wants to harm the state or the peace.”
Hamadeh’s statemenet comes after Jumblatt called last Friday to preserve stability after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) indicted four Hezbollah members in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Hamadeh –who split from Jumblatt’s bloc after the latter nominated Hezbollah-backed Najib Mikati for the premiership in January –said that his only disagreement with the PSP leader is over the STL.
“Achieving justice is the key for stability and unity of the Lebanese…Hezbollah should legally deal with the tribunal,” Hamadeh told As-Sharq radio station.
He also said “there will be no dialogue or compromise at the expense of the tribunal.”
Commenting on former PM Saad Hariri’s absence from Lebanon Hamadeh said: “His return from Paris will remain a closely guarded secret due to serious security considerations. He added “even though Hariri is in Paris , he continues to exercise his leadership pf the real majority and is awaiting the right moment to return hoping that the Prime Minister Najib Mikati will not deny through his ministerial statement, the blood of the martyr Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs of the Cedar Revolution”. He added “what will Mikati say to MP Nayla Tueni , Gisele Khoury-Kassir , Bahij Hawi , Amin Gemayel and former minister Michel Murr? ”
Tueni is the daughter of former MP Gebran Tueni who was assassinated on December 12, 2005
Kassir is the widow of former Lebanese professor of history and journalist Samir Kassir who was assassinated on June 2, 2005
Hawi is the son of George Hawi former secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party who was assassinated on June 21 , 2005
Gemayel is the father of former industry minister Pierre Gemayel who was assassinated on November 21, 2006
Former Minister Murr escaped an assassination attempt on July 12, 2005
Hamadeh himself miraculously survived an assassination in October 2004. The van that contained the bomb that was used in Hamadeh’s assassination reportedly was set up in Hezbollah’s stronghold of Al Dahia a Beirut suburb. Hamadeh was reportedly targeted because of his alleged involvement in drafting UN Resolution 1559 which called for disarming all militia ( Hezbollah is the only armed group in Lebanon ) and for for the withdrawal of all foreign troops( Syria at the time had over 14000 troops in Lebanon)
All the above crimes are reportedly related and similar techniques were used in the assassination.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued the indictments in the assassination of Lebanon’s former PM Rafik Hariri on Thursday. An STL delegation met with Lebanon’s state prosecutor Said Mirza on Thursday and handed him a copy of the Lebanon portion of the indictment and the arrest warrants. Two of the suspects Mustafa Badreddine and Salim Ayyash are reportedly senior members of the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah while the other two Hassan Aneissy, also known as Hassan Issa, and Assad Sabra played a supporting role in the execution of the assassination
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah denounced on several occasions the court as a conspiracy by the U.S. and Israel and said last year that the group “will cut off the hand” of anyone who tries to arrest its party members linked to the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.
Jumblatt defected from the March 14 (three months after the Der Spiegel report revealed that Hezbollah was behind Hariri’s murder) for fear over a Shiite -Sunni strife if Hezbollah members were indicted by the STL, but according to Ali Hussein a local analyst ” the Sunnis of Lebanon proved him ( Jumblatt) wrong so far. Not one shot was heard , not one tire was burnt and not one road was blocked in the mainly Sunni areas of Beirut, Tripoli or Sidon and Lebanon has maintained its calm despite the tension.”
Hezbollah and its allies deliberately brought down the government of Saad Hariri in January in anticipation of the indictment in the Hariri murder .
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