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Lebanon ex-PM Hariri Assassination Verdict Due August 7

Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri listens during a cabinet meeting in Beirut September 20, 2004. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri listens during a cabinet meeting in Beirut September 20, 2004. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
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Lebanon ex-PM Hariri Assassination Verdict Due August 7

Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri listens during a cabinet meeting in Beirut September 20, 2004. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri listens during a cabinet meeting in Beirut September 20, 2004. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

A UN-backed tribunal into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in a huge suicide bombing on the Beirut seafront in 2005 will deliver its long-awaited verdict on August 7, the court announced on Friday.

Four suspects are on trial over Hariri’s murder. They are Salim Ayyash, Assad Sabra, Hussein Oneissi and Hassan Habib Merhi.

The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) said it "issued a scheduling order today for the public pronouncement of the judgment" in the case against the suspects, who are being tried in absentia.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the hearing "will be delivered from the courtroom with partial virtual participation", STL said in a statement.

The court has heard evidence from more than 300 witnesses and amassed 144,000 pages of evidence.

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Residents Leave Homes in Jenin as Israeli Raid Continues

Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Residents Leave Homes in Jenin as Israeli Raid Continues

Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Israeli drones fitted with loudspeakers ordered people to leave their homes in Jenin on Thursday, residents said, as the military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation in the West Bank city.
The operation, involving large columns of vehicles backed by helicopters and drones, was launched in the first week of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023.
Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was aimed at what the military said were Iranian-backed militant groups in the refugee camp adjacent to the city, a major hub for armed Palestinian groups for years.
"We need to be prepared to continue in the Jenin camp that will bring it to a different place," Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the head of the Israeli military, said in a statement.
Armored bulldozers have dug up roads and hundreds of people left their homes in the camp, after residents said they were ordered to evacuate, Reuters reported.
"Yesterday, we did not want to leave, we were at home," said 16-year-old Hussam Saadi. "Today, they sent down a drone to our neighborhood, telling us to leave the camp and that they will blow it up."
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli troops killed two armed men barricaded inside a building in Burqin, outside Jenin, after a gunfight. The two were suspected of carrying out an attack near the Palestinian village of al-Funduq earlier this month, in which three Israelis were killed.
Both were claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, which has a strong presence in the refugee camp, a crowded township for descendants of Palestinians who fled, or were forced, from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war.
Overall since the start of the operation, 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 more wounded, Palestinian health officials said.
The raid, the third major operation by the Israeli military in Jenin in under two years, drew warnings from France and Jordan against an escalation in the West Bank, which has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza.