March 14 MP Nohad al-Mashnouq described the government of PM Nagib Mikati as the cabinet of suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, because it includes Hezbollah members and is mainly influenced by the group .
The Iranian and Syrian -backed Hezbollah brought down Hariri’s government on January 12 over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) imminent indictment.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued the indictments and arrest warrants in the assassination of Lebanon’s former PM Hariri on June 30. Two of the suspects Mustafa Badreddine and Salim Ayyash are reportedly senior members of Hezbollah and played leading roles in the assassination while the other two Hezbollah members Hassan Aneissy, also known as Hassan Issa, and Assad Sabra played a supporting role in the execution of the assassination.
Lebanon had 30 days to find and arrest the suspects but Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said on July 2 that the party would not cooperate with the tribunal.
“No Lebanese government will be able to carry out any arrests whether in 30 days, 30 years or even 300 years.”
Mashnouq told a Hayat newspaper that a government that protects murderers cannot implement decisions of the Tribunal, stressing that the arms of the so called resistance are being used to protect Hariri’s murderers.
He said that the arms should be under the control of the state.
“We have the need for a resistance given Israel’s repeated assaults, but it should lie in the hands of the state and not in the control of a party,” said Mashnouq
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