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STL Convicts Another 2 Hezbollah Members in Rafik Hariri’s Murder

Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri listens during a cabinet meeting in Beirut September 20, 2004. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri listens during a cabinet meeting in Beirut September 20, 2004. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
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STL Convicts Another 2 Hezbollah Members in Rafik Hariri’s Murder

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

Appeals judges at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Thursday convicted another two Hezbollah members on charges of terrorism and murder for their role in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, reversing their earlier acquittal.

"The appeals chamber had unanimously decided to reverse the acquittals (...) we unanimously find misters (Hassan Habib) Merhi and (Hussein Hassan) Oneissi guilty," Presiding judge Ivana Hrdlickova said in a summary of the judgement read out in the UN-backed court at The Hague.

The prosecution had appealed against the acquittal of the two men, saying there had been fundamental errors in the judgment.

Appeals judges said that the lower trial chamber wrongly assessed the circumstantial evidence in the case, which was based almost entirely on mobile phone records, when they acquitted Merhi and Oneissi.

In 2020 a lower trial chamber convicted a former member of Hezbollah, Salim Jamil Ayyash, for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others at the Beirut seafront. All three men have been tried in absentia and remain at large.

The court said Merhi and Oneissi will be sentenced at a later date and issued fresh arrest warrants for both men following Thursday's convictions.

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Lebanese President Says Disarmament Decision Has Been Taken

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the Maronite Patriarchate on Easter morning (Lebanese Presidency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the Maronite Patriarchate on Easter morning (Lebanese Presidency)
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Lebanese President Says Disarmament Decision Has Been Taken

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the Maronite Patriarchate on Easter morning (Lebanese Presidency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the Maronite Patriarchate on Easter morning (Lebanese Presidency)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun affirmed on Sunday that the decision to confine all arms to the state has already been made, but he emphasized that its enforcement hinges on the “right conditions” to determine the timing and method.
Aoun’s statement came two days after Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem firmly rejected any possibility of disarmament. “We will not allow anyone to disarm Hezbollah or the resistance,” Qassem had said in a televised address.
He warned that Hezbollah has “other options,” though he stopped short of specifying them.
Qassem also claimed that Hezbollah has successfully thwarted Israel’s objectives in southern Lebanon, and revealed that “positive messages” had been exchanged with President Aoun regarding the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

Aoun
Following an Easter Mass and a closed-door meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, Aoun reiterated his stance on confining weapons to the state, emphasizing that the matter “should not be debated through media or social platforms, but rather approached with national responsibility and without provocation”.
He added that the nation’s best interest must always come first, reaffirming that his call, as mentioned in his inaugural address, for exclusive state control over arms was not mere words.
“When I spoke of the state’s exclusive right to arms in my oath of office, it wasn’t just words. I said it because I firmly believe that the Lebanese people do not want war and can no longer bear its consequences or even the language of war,” he said.
In addressing the challenges facing this matter and how to reconcile between external pressures on Lebanon and internal calls for a more gradual approach, Aoun said: “We must address the matter responsibly and with composure because it is a sensitive and fundamental matter for preserving civil peace”.
President Joseph Aoun reiterated his call for internal dialogue as the only viable path to resolve contentious national issues, including the question of Hezbollah’s arms. He warned against confrontation, which he said could lead Lebanon toward destruction.
Patriarch Al-Rahi
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, during his Easter Mass sermon, voiced strong support for Aoun’s position on state sovereignty and the monopoly of arms.
Rahi endorsed Aoun’s message that "only the state can protect us—a strong, sovereign, and just state, born from the will of the Lebanese people and committed to their well-being, peace, and prosperity."