Report: Hezbollah Was Behind Hariri Assassination--Along With Iran And Syria

Considering the indications that Hezbollah was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri, it was inevitable that suspicion would be cast on the ones that pull Hezbollah's strings.

So it really should not be that surprising that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is connecting Iran with the the Hariri assassination:

A United Nations tribunal is to indict Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with ordering the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, U.S. news website Newsmax reported on Saturday, adding that the hit itself was planned executed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in collaboration with Hezbollah.

The report comes just days into Lebanon's latest political crisis, as minister affiliated with Hezbollah and its allies withdrew from the unity cabinet led by Saad Hariri earlier this week, citing Hariri's cooperation with the UN-led probe of his father's killing.

Saturday's Newsmax report, also cited by Lebanese news website Naharnet, quotes source close to the UN investigation of the Hariri killing who claimed that the order to assassinate the former Lebanon premier was given by Khamenei.

According to Newsmax, it was the Hezbollah military leader, Imad Mughniyeh--together with his brother-in-law--who put together the team that would murder Hariri. In addition, both Syrian President Bashar Assad and his brother-in-law (head of Syrian intelligence) were involved in the operation as well.

it is still not clear how far this is going to go. It will still be up to pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen as whether there is enought to proceed with a trial--and he will have 6 weeks in which to decide.

And there is no telling how much more instability Hezbollah will be able to cause during that time.

Technorati Tag: STL and Hariri and Hezbollah.