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.



Israel Intercepts Missile from Yemen, Military Says

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile as others wave the flags of Palestine (R) and Yemen (L) during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 March 2025 against US airstrikes on Houthi positions. (EPA)
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile as others wave the flags of Palestine (R) and Yemen (L) during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 March 2025 against US airstrikes on Houthi positions. (EPA)
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Israel Intercepts Missile from Yemen, Military Says

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile as others wave the flags of Palestine (R) and Yemen (L) during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 March 2025 against US airstrikes on Houthi positions. (EPA)
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile as others wave the flags of Palestine (R) and Yemen (L) during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 March 2025 against US airstrikes on Houthi positions. (EPA)

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had intercepted a projectile launched from Yemen that crossed into Israeli territory.

Sirens had earlier sounded in several areas of Israel.

The Iran-backed Houthi group has repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what it has described as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The firing of the projectile came after Israel resumed airstrikes against targets in Gaza that killed more than 400 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, in an onslaught that ended weeks of relative calm after talks to secure a permanent ceasefire stalled.