#Hariri: To die to be a witness in #Lebanon

(Carl) Now that the Sunni and the Shia are killing each other we can expect the truth to surface. No longer is Israel a factor here. Exposing Assad is in the interest of the Muslim Brotherhood. To say that Hariri was killed by Zionists would not be in the interests of Sunni Islam when the man who is killing them is also the man who killed Hariri.

Hezbullah will do anything - ANYTHING - to keep the truth about who killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri from coming out. The latest tactic is hacking the computers at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and publishing details of the witnesses before the Tribunal.

There is an ongoing United Nations Special Tribunal preparing indictments related to the assassination, which is widely thought to have involved the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah and its Syrian allies. The investigation was thrown into disarray last month when Al Akhbar, a Hezbollah-linked newspaper, published confidential details of 17 witnesses likely slated to testify in any murder trial over Hariri’s death. The details included names, passport pictures, dates of birth, and places of employment. The U.N. blasted the publication, noting that it put the witnesses’ lives at risk.

Now the names and photographs of more than 200 additional witnesses have been posted on the website of the pro-Hariri Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, which claims that the information was posted by a hacker who compromised the paper’s servers. Hezbollah websites promptly took the list and republished it. The Tower has viewed the information and can confirm the details of the story, if not the accuracy of the personal information.

But Europe is still not ready to call Hezbullah a terror organization.

The crisis of the Assad regime in Syria has already reduced Hezbollah's power #Syria #Hezbollah #Lebanon #Assad

Council on Foreign Relations is trying to spin the leadership of Lebanon as trustworthy. this is bullshit. we should not give arms to Lebanon again. They are not to be trusted. bullshit follows...

Council on Foreign Relations seems to want to push the idea that Jumblatt is reformed.
This is bullshit. This guy is Assad's ally...
and is trying to stay in power. Here is Jumblatt pictured with his daughter.

March 16, 1977: 

h/t (@ChallahHuAkbar) by Elliott Abrams

On July 2, the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had this to say about the UN’s Special tribunal on Lebanon, which is investigating the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri:

the tribunal is part of the war against us, because we are leading a confrontation against Israel….The most dangerous goal of this tribunal is to create strife, a civil war in Lebanon, or especially a division between the Sunni and Shiite in Lebanon.

He has also said the Tribunal is “trying to destroy the human and social fabric of Lebanon,”  and called on all Lebanese to boycott it:

I call on every official and every citizen in Lebanon to boycott those investigators and not to cooperate with them … because all that is being offered to them reaches the Israelis. Continuing cooperation with those encourages more violations of the country and helps with the aggression against the resistance.

In January of this year, “Mr Nasrallah told a TV audience that Lebanese judges, funding and obligations to the tribunal must be removed.” Now something has changed. Today’s press in Lebanon reports that:

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Thursday said the party will not trigger a crisis over the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon despite its continued opposition to the move. ‘In a bid to preserve political stability and to keep the government intact while reaffirming our opposition [to the court] … We don’t accept the funding but we will not create a problem, Nasrallah said during a televised speech.

What happened to those fiery words of yesteryear? Simple: the Syrian uprising. Nasrallah and Hezbollah will be among the great losers if the Assad regime is toppled, along with Iran and of course the Assad clan itself. Without Syrian support and the use of Syria for storage and delivery of weaponry from Iran, Hezbollah will be weaker.
We can also see this in the maneuvering of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, once a Syrian ally. As recently as January the headlines were “Lebanon Druze leader Walid Jumblatt sides with Hezbollah in crisis.”
As one report summarized, “Just a year ago, Jumblatt was Syria’s most vocal critic, a man who dared, long before others, to call for the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose father most likely ordered the assassination of Jumblatt’s dad during Lebanon’s civil war. Then, last January, Jumblatt did a spectacular about face, siding with the Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah against his former West-leaning allies.”
But by October, “Walid Jumblatt severely criticized the Syrian regime during a concert that he hosted for his friends in the city of Jbeil. Jumblatt reportedly picked up the microphone and addressed his guests by saying: “Unfortunately, we are now enjoying music while the Syrian people are revolting against oppression and tyranny.” And Jumblatt has now applauded the funding of the Tribunal, which is another step away from Syria and Hezbollah.
When the Hezbollah leader, who has repeatedly plunged Lebanon in to crisis and into war, now has to say “we will not create a problem,” tectonic plates are moving in the Middle East. Without understating Hezbollah’s strength and viciousness, the crisis of the Assad regime in Syria has already reduced its power. Assad’s fall will reduce it more. This is yet another reason why the United States should be doing all we can to bring Assad down, the sooner the better.

via blogs.cfr.org

This is news. Jumblatt changed sides this week. don't believe what CFR says. The reason CFR wants to picture Jumblatt as reformed so fast is because like the Democrats, CFR wants to give arms to the lebanese soldiers (which is like giving it directly to Hezbollah). The CFR post here is a lie. The game plan is that if America doesn't give the arms then the Russians will.

Kamal Jumblatt, 60, leader of Lebanon’s Druze community, a member of the Lebanese Parliament and a Socialist-nationalist supporter of Palestinians, is assassinated by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party — which Jumblatt had legalized as interior minister some years earlier. Jumblatt was also the founder of the Progressive Socialist Party. He was the leader of the Palestinian-Muslim alliance in the Lebanese civil war, opposing Christian militias. His was assassinated likely by orders of Syria’s president, Hafez el-Assad, who briefly feared that a Palestinian-Muslim alliance in Lebanon would tip the balance of power too much in their favor in the civil war. Jumblatt is succeeded by his son, Walid. 

Iran vs. Saudi Arabia: War on the Horizon?

(by Anna Mahjar-Barducci/HudsonNY) Saudi Arabia was not surprised when U.S. authorities uncovered the Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Abdel al-Jubair. According to Saudi intelligence, Teheran in the last months has started a campaign of chain murders targeting Saudi diplomats to destabilize the Royal family.
In May 2011, gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed Hassan al-Qahtani, a Saudi diplomat working in the consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi. The murder came after a previous attack on the Karachi Consulate with Russian-made HE-36 hand grenades. At first the media linked the assassination to Al-Qaeda groups trying to revenge the killing of Osama bin Laden, but further investigation revealed that the murder was planned by the Iran's Quds Force. Pakistani intelligence identified the Saudi diplomat's killer as a member of a Shi'ite terrorist organization, Sipah-e-Muhammad [the Army of Muhammad], which maintains close links to the Quds Force. The link to the killing was allegedly proven by recorded messages between Iranian officials in Islamabad and members of the terrorist group.
In September 2011, the Saudi online newspaper Elaph revealed that the Saudi Ambassador to Cairo, Ahmad Abdel-Aziz Kattan, survived an attempted assassination by poison, allegedly staged by Iran.
Elaph states that the Saudi diplomats, al-Jubair included, are all linked to prince Bandar bin Sultan, Secretary-General of the National Security Council, and former Ambassador to the U.S., 1983-2005. Prince Bandar, a strong opponent of Iranian influence in the Middle East, is at the center of an Iranian smear campaign to discredit him and tarnish his image. Recently, Iranian media have gone so far as to circulate fake "news" according to which Prince Bandar would have been arrested by Syrian security forces at Damascus Airport and would have confessed that he was involved in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri - for which, instead, the Syrian government has been indicated by international investigators.
Saudi Arabia: The Obstacle to Iran's Ambitions in the Middle East
Sunni Saudi Arabia is generally perceived by Iran as possibly the greatest obstacle to its ambitions in the Middle East, in that Iran has been trying to export its Shi'te Islamic revolution both culturally and militarily throughout the Middle East, according to Ahmed Jarallah, editor-in-chief of the Kuwaiti paper, Al-Seyassah.
Saudi Arabia tried to do everything it could, both politically and militarily, to stop a recent Shi'ite uprisings in Bahrain -- an island off the coast of Saudi Arabia that is predominately Shi'ite but ruled by Sunnis -- which Iran has been claiming belongs to Iran, and which is separated from Saudi Arabia by only a small causeway a few miles long. The Saudis were concerned that the Shi'ite uprising in Bahrain might embolden Saudi Arabia's own minority Shi'ite population -- located by the oil fields, far from Riyadh, Mecca and Medina -- thereby increasing Iran's influence over the Arabian Peninsula.
Saudi Arabia must therefore have been alarmed by the announcement that the U.S. would be leaving Iraq. Saudi Arabia might well assume that even though it managed to thwart Iran's influence in Bahrain, Iran will nevertheless manage to try to take control of the oil-rich region by way of Iraq. The Saudis have desperately been trying to find strategic ways to prevent such a scenario, including probably hoping for a change in the U.S. administration in next year's election.
"The facts on the ground say that Tehran's influence in Iraq has increased under the eyes of the current US administration," writes Tareq Al-Homayed, editor-in-chief of the Saudi newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat, "whilst Iranian influence [in Iraq] also benefited from the mistakes made by the previous US administration. This is not all, for now we see Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad […] appear in an interview on CNN saying that he does not expect any change in his country's relations with Iraq following the withdrawal of US forces. Indeed Ahmadinejad went on to confidently state – and this is the crux of the matter – that 'the government of Iraq, the parliament, we have a very good relationship with all of them…and we have deepened our ties day by day.'" Al-Homayed adds, "This 'day by day' is true, and it has happened before the eyes of the Americans, therefore the extent of Iran's influence in Iraq is no surprise, nor is Tehran's support for the Shiite militias there. It is enough to listen to the complaints of the honorable people of Iraq – Sunnis and Shii'tes and others – who do not accept their country becoming a proxy in Iranian hands or ruled by Qassem Suleimani and his Qods Force."
Iran Would Like a War in the Middle East
As the Kuwaiti paper Al-Seyassah pointed out, Iran might soon start a war in Middle East as the only way to show that Tehran still has influence in region and can threaten whoever opposes its plans. If Bashar al-Assad is removed from power in Syria, Iran could be concerned that the world might perceive Iran as isolated; it could therefore want to make the point that even if Syria might be lost for now, Iran can still take control of Iraq, and fight proxy wars by means of its proxy group, Hezbollah. To Iran, the main enemy that stands in its way is Saudi Arabia, which has already fought Iran's influence in Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain and Iraq.
As Saudi Arabia is the first new superpower in the Arab world, Iran might well have designs on replacing it. Al Seyassah's editor in chief recently noted that Iran's conspiracies necessitated constant caution and that Teheran is trying to make a conflict zone out of the Middle East. He then differentiated between the Shi'ite faith in the Arab world, which does not pose any threat, and what he labeled "Persian Safavi Shi'ism" --- referring to the most significant Persian dynasty that controlled "Greater Iran," when it stretched from the Caucasus to the Indus River, and represented Iran's aims and ideologies to exercise its influence throughout the Arab world.

U.N.-backed court delivers Hariri killing indictments, Hezbollah throws hissy fit

Ayman, Saad, Fahd, and Ouday al-Hariri,
sons of the slain Premier Rafik al-Hariri

(Reuters) - The U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri handed over indictments and four arrest warrants to Lebanon Thursday, the state prosecutor said.
The long-awaited move was hailed as a "historic moment" by Hariri's son, opposition leader Saad al-Hariri, who urged the government of Najib Mikati to cooperate with the court.
Prosecutor Saeed Mirza did not disclose the contents of the indictments, but they are expected to accuse four Hezbollah members of involvement in the Feb 14. 2005 bombing in Beirut which killed Rafik al-Hariri and 22 others.
Hezbollah, both a political movement and guerrilla army, which with its political allies forms a majority in Mikati's new government, denies any role in Hariri's killing and has called the court a tool of Israel and the United States.
It has vowed not to hand over any of its members and wants Lebanon to end cooperation with the tribunal, withdraw Lebanese judges and halt its contribution to the court's funding.
More...

via eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com

Hezbollah has been strengthening its position in Lebanon--not only militarily, in defiance of the UN Resolution that brought an end to the Hezbollah-Israel war, but politically as well.

Najib Mikati, the new Lebanese Prime Minister, had both Syria's and Hezbollah's support for his new position, so it is unlikely that he will just hand the 4 Hezbollah members over.

Left unanswered is the question of Iranian involvement. After all, would Hezbollah do anything so drastic as the assassination of someone so popular in Lebanon without the approval of its mentor?

The indictments are finally out.

Now let's see if it matters.

via daledamos.blogspot.com

Syrian soldiers shot for refusing to fire on protesters?

Some sober analysis of the "Arab Spring"

Syrian soldiers have been shot by security forces after refusing to fire on protesters, witnesses said, as a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations intensified:...The Arab Spring can never bloom if the people can not be heard because of Saudi fears.

א  מַשָּׂא, דַּמָּשֶׂק:  הִנֵּה דַמֶּשֶׂק מוּסָר מֵעִיר, וְהָיְתָה מְעִי מַפָּלָה.

1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

Isaiah 17 via mechon-mamre.org

א  מַשָּׂא, דַּמָּשֶׂק:  הִנֵּה דַמֶּשֶׂק מוּסָר מֵעִיר, וְהָיְתָה מְעִי מַפָּלָה.

1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

The Arab media has largely been silent about what's been going on in Syria. And the Western media have followed their lead. Lee Smith explains why.

What’s peculiar is that given the size of the uprising—people are in the streets of every major Syrian city except Aleppo—and the bravery of the demonstrators, there’s been little attention paid to it. After all, these are not Egyptian security forces under the command of a U.S. ally like former president Hosni Mubarak. Any Syrian who steps out into the street understands that if security forces have a clear shot, they’ll take it, and no one is going to stop them, certainly not the regime, and not fear of repercussions from the international press either. The same Western and Arab media that covered the Egyptian uprising as it unfolded is all but absent from Syria.


The New York Times’s reporting is coming out of Cairo and New York; the Washington Post’s coverage is based in Beirut; Reuters has people in Damascus, but the regime keeps detaining them and throwing them out. That is to say, the Assad regime has done an excellent job of keeping the curtains closed on events, so that the main source of news coming directly out of Syria is almost exclusively from the Internet, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The social media galvanized Egyptian and Tunisian protestors, but for the Syrian opposition it is the main source of media they have to show the world what’s happening.
As Washington, D.C.-based Arab journalist Hussain Abdul Hussain notes:

Arab satellite channels dedicated more air time to Syria than in the previous weekdays. The first 30-minutes of Al-Jazeera's news coverage were dedicated to clashes in Syria. However, Al-Jazeera, which has been exceptionally silent on Syria, perhaps because of the good alliance between Assad and Al-Jazeera's owner the Sheikh of Qatar Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, cherry-picked its coverage of Syrian rallies.

But the lack of coverage cannot be entirely blamed on al-Jazeera.

Young also faults Al Arabiya, the majority-Saudi-owned network, founded in 2003 for no other purpose than to deter its Qatari rival, Al Jazeera, which came to prominence through its attacks on Riyadh and other Arab rivals, including Cairo.

To toss Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya into the same basket is entirely justified here, because both Saudi Arabia and Qatar share a desire to avert a breakdown in Syria, fearing that chaos might ensue. Their views are echoed by a majority of Gulf states, whose leaders have called Assad lately to express their backing.

It’s true that the Saudis, who have been at loggerheads with Syria ever since they suspected Syrian involvement in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, don’t want to see Assad fall. They fear that the wave of Arab uprisings is likely to reach them next, and this is a good place to block a domino. However, other Saudi-owned media, like the pan-Arab London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, has been unsparing in its criticism of Damascus.
Perhaps that’s because the Saudis recognize that in a region with soaring illiteracy rates, video is a much more powerful medium than the printed press. Of course, it’s also possible to overstate the influence of Al Jazeera, especially compared to one of the region’s oldest and most powerful media, the sermon at Friday noon prayers. Last week in Beirut I heard rumors that the Saudis had instructed Sunni sheikhs and imams throughout Syria to calm things down and keep people out of the street. Apparently, the Saudis’ wishes were scattered by the winds of the Syrian uprising.

And Western media is just following the Arab lead rather than doing their job. What could go wrong?

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com ...via guardian.co.uk...h/t @Jewlicious and @DaledAmos

US: No More Weapons to Lebanon

The United States has shut down the flow of weapons to Lebanon due to concerns that the Hizbullah terrorist organization may seize the arms.
The arms freeze was actually implemented in January, according to a report published Monday in the Wall Street Journal
However, the decision was not publicized in order to ensure a smooth transition to a new Lebanese government following the collapse of former Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri's Western-backed administration. American deliveries of non-lethal equipment have continued, as has military training for the Lebanese Army. In 2010, the U.S. granted at least $18 million in ordnance to Lebanon, according to the report. Hizbullah-backed Nagib Mikati was appointed as the new prime minister-designate in January with a parliamentary majority secured, according to March 14 Alliance rivals, by the terrorists' weapons. March 14 is a coalition of political parties and independents in Lebanon led by Hariri, son of the assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri..

via israelnationalnews.com

Posted via email from noahdavidsimon's posterous

the words of Hariri: a man who is loyal to the murderers of his father. Hamlet in reverse

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri criticized on Friday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's will to continue negotiations with the Palestinians, saying that he "doesn't believe in peace."
In an interview with the Washington Post, Hariri said that in order to achieve a peace deal in the Arab-Israeli conflict, there must be strong leadership, something that Israel lacks.

	Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri
	Photo by: AP

via haaretz.com

Posted via email from noahdavidsimon's posterous

Cameron in bed with the Lebanese Defense Forces which are really Hezbollah who are the murderers of Hariri Elder

Hariri to Cameron: I Don't Think Assad Had Anything to Do with My Father's Murder translation: Bombing Jews is more fun then the reason for my father's death. Cameron in bed with the Lebanese Defense Forces which are really Hezbollah. Jews are dying because of Western funded murderers. The enemies of justice have shown their face and it is time for the Americans who just voted and care to wave goodbye to the Queen and England

I do not think that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had anything to do with my father's murder, Prime Minister Saad Hariri has told the British daily The Times.
Asked by The Times who he now believed killed his father, Hariri said: "I'm the Prime Minister. I do not have the luxury of speculating these days."
"I believe a relationship with a country is simply bound to the interests of two countries and not by personal issues," he added.

but then why were U.N. investigators violently attacked?

"The relationship (with Syria) is geographically and historically important, and I should act as a prime minister, not as Saad Hariri."
The premier said he does not believe that the blood of his slain father, ex-PM Rafik Hariri, "will or should cause strife in the country."
On Tuesday, Hariri held talks with his British counterpart David Cameron.
Talks were attended by Lebanese Ambassador to London Inaam Osseiran, Hariri's chief of staff Nader Hariri and advisors Mohammed Shatah and Hani Hammoud, and, from the British side, by British Ambassador to Lebanon Frances Guy, National Security Advisor of the British Government Sir Peter Ricketts, Cameron's foreign affairs advisor Tom Fletcher and his advisor Richard Freer.
Upon receiving Hariri, Cameron said: "We have a very strong relationship, but I think we can make it stronger still. We want to do everything we can to support the stability and security of Lebanon. We think that this is absolutely vital."
"We fully support the Special Tribunal (for Lebanon) process and we want to see that properly completed and we want to do everything we can to help you with the work you are doing in your country. You are very welcome here today," Cameron told Hariri.
After the meeting, Hariri spoke to the press.
"We discussed the issues of the region and the challenges that Lebanon is facing, and especially the Israeli threats and our problems with Israel. We also spoke about ways to improve the economic relations between the two countries," said Hariri.
"PM Cameron also underlined Britain's support for the Special Tribunal. We also asked for military assistance for the military and security forces in Lebanon, and there was a large receptivity from Britain regarding this issue," added Hariri.
Asked about Cameron's position regarding the STL, Hariri said: "You have heard his declaration regarding the tribunal. PM Cameron stressed that Britain fully supports the Tribunal, which was formed by a U.N. resolution, and that Britain will not retract on this issue."
Asked if Cameron had expressed any fears regarding the repercussions of the indictment of the STL, Hariri answered: "We did not tackle this issue."

via naharnet.com

Cameron is awarding attacks on Jews... not to mention non Hezbollah Lebanon.  

noahdavidsimon's posterous

Syrians and Iran plans to take control of Beirut if indictment by international Tribunal

The report said that Hizbullah, Amal and other pro-Syrian groups were in close contact and coordination relating to a plan to take control of Beirut, the road to the south of the city, and neutralizing Christian and Sunni areas. The sources said that the groups were already plotting zones of who would control which areas, in a day-after scenario.

Hattit concluded that "if this scenario does take place, Hizbullah would be able to seize power in three days, or a week at most," and that the "era of Hariri in Lebanon" would end forever.

via jpost.com

Here's the latest from Naharnet:

The Syrian-backed Opposition reportedly plans to take control of Beirut in the event an indictment by the international Tribunal was issued.

Pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Tuesday quoted a well-informed Lebanese source as saying reports were being circulated among Lebanese security authorities that Hizbullah and AMAL Movement as well as other forces allied with Syria have been holding extensive, periodic meetings to discuss "coordination" in the presumed battle for the control of Beirut.

It said the meetings discussed "zoning" of the areas such as each group will have its own confrontation zero hour map.

via elderofziyon.blogspot.com

It's been five years since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister and billionaire Rafik Hariri by a truck bomb in downtown Beirut. In the aftermath, a United Nations tribunal has puttered and sputtered but finally appears poised to hand down indictments, which could explode the combustible Lebanese political scene, perhaps, new reports suggest, even leading to a Hezbollah coup.
All signs point to a high level of Syrian involvement in the hit, which killed 22 others along with Hariri. In late 2005, Syria's top intelligence officer in Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, "killed himself" (many believe he was either killed or ordered to carry out the suicide) after he was questioned by a U.N. investigator. However, Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, who is now Lebanon's prime minister, has already acquitted Syrian President Bashar Assad in statements that recall an earlier act of supplication -- when Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt forgave Syrian President Hafez Assad (Bashir's late father) for killing his father, Kamal Jumblatt.
But if Syria is let off the hook -- as appears likely -- that still leaves Hezbollah, the civil-war era Shiite militia group that has morphed into the country's strongest political party and a proxy warrior (for Iran and Syria) against Israel. Hezbollah is planning a coup if its members are charged in the assassination, according to a report in the Arabic international newspaper Asharq Alawsat, which was picked up by Haaretz, an Israeli daily.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Nasrallah has called on Lebanese not to cooperate with U.N. investigators, since reports last year that the investigation was likely to indict several Hezbollah members.

via aolnews.com

Investigators Violently Attacked in Lebanon While Probing 2005 Hariri Assassination

The investigators were "unexpectedly and violently attacked" by a group of angry, screaming "women wearing niqabs and veils". It is also believed that "men in women’s garb among them."

(CNSNews.com) – An attack on international investigators probing the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri is seen as part of a campaign by Hezbollah to obstruct the inquiry before it indicts members of the Shi’ite terrorist group.

The controversy surrounding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has sparked fears that Lebanon’s fragile U.S.-backed government could collapse, and that a fresh outbreak of Shi’ite-Sunni violence could allow Hezbollah to tighten its grip on the small country, with serious implications for the wider region.

The United States and France, two of the Western countries most heavily invested in Lebanon’s stability, have reiterated their support for the politically explosive investigation, which Hezbollah and Syria actively are trying to sabotage.

Two STL investigators accompanied by a Lebanese interpreter were attacked Wednesday by scores of screaming women as they sought medical records at a clinic in a Hezbollah-controlled suburb of south Beirut.

Lebanon’s Murr Television reported that the group included women wearing niqabs and veils, and that there were likely men in women’s garb among them.

The Hague-based STL said in a statement that “a large group of people showed up unexpectedly and violently attacked the investigators and their female interpreter.”

“The Lebanese army extracted the three staff members and brought them back safely to the STL Beirut Office where they were provided with medical attention,” it said, adding that the violence would not deter the tribunal from its mission.

During the melee, a briefcase belonging to one of the team was snatched. The tribunal did not say what documents it contained.

A senior member of Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s March 14 alliance, Farid Makari, issued a statement saying the “method of using ordinary people” to carry out such attacks was a “registered trademark” of Hezbollah.

More... pucker up!

via eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com

Asked if Cameron had expressed any fears regarding the repercussions of the indictment of the STL, Hariri answered: "We did not tackle this issue.

via noah.simonstudio.com

Hezbollah accuses Israel of killing Hariri

I have information. We accuse Israel of killing Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005.
I will present during the press conference information that will help lead to conclusions on the Rafik Hariri investigation.

We will manage to uncover the real criminals behind the Rafik Hariri murder.

via elderofziyon.blogspot.com  

That last line sounds a lot like OJ Simpson, doesn't it?
via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

Simpson said that he would look for the real murderer, who he said he believed was a hitman.

via en.wikipedia.org

did he say that with a straight face?

noahdavidsimon's posterous

Assad: Do not Dare Blame Hizbullah for Hariri Murder

AP Photo 1 day ago From left, Syrian President Bashar Assad, Saudi King Abdullah, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri meet at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, July 30, 2010.

via bokertov.typepad.com

Goldstone Report... prosecute, but Hariri Murder should be covered up... ok Assad. Care to elaborate?

noahdavidsimon's posterous

At a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and Saudi King Abdullah, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called for an immediate end to the activity of the United Nations international tribunal investigating the death of former Lebanese leader Rafik al-Hariri. Assad said that the tribunal had become a “burden” on Lebanon, and threatened the country's stability.
Assad warned the tribunal against finding Hizbullah guilty for Hariri's murder; such a decision could “destroy” Lebanon, he said.

A report in the Lebanese press quoted Assad as warning the tribunal against finding Hizbullah guilty for Hariri's murder; such a decision could “destroy” Lebanon, he said, adding that the tribunal has  “nearly caused a tragedy in the Middle East.” He said that the tribunal had attempted to falsely blame Syria as well. “We cannot accept the same results regarding Hizbullah,” he said. If, at one time, the tribunal was attempting to find the parties guilty for Hariri's death, today it had become a tool by which to persecute countries that were not pro-American, he claimed. Hizbullah top terrorist Hassan Nasrallah is set to make a speech Tuesday, in which he will discuss the investigation.
According to the report, Abdullah said that it was doubtful that the tribunal could be stopped at this point, since it had major international backing. The meeting was seen as an attempt by Assad to deliver a message to Sa'ad Hariri, Prime Minister of Lebanon, with whom Abdullah has close ties. Sa'ad is the son of Rafik Hariri.

via israelnationalnews.com

a burden?  I suppose the Nazis were a burden on Germany... but that isn't what Assad means