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.



US Revokes Foreign Terrorist Designation for Syria's HTS

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria March 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria March 29, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Revokes Foreign Terrorist Designation for Syria's HTS

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria March 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria March 29, 2025. (Reuters)

President Donald Trump's administration on Monday revoked the foreign terrorist organization designation for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as Washington moves to remove US sanctions on Syria to help the country rebuild following years of a civil war.

In December, opposition factions led by HTS ousted Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive. Then-HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa became Syria's president and said he wanted to build an inclusive and democratic Syria.

HTS was previously known as al-Nusra Front when it was al-Qaeda's Syria branch. It broke off ties with al-Qaeda in 2016.

In May, Sharaa met with Trump in Riyadh where, in a major policy shift, the Republican president unexpectedly announced he would lift US sanctions on Syria, prompting Washington to significantly ease its measures.

"This FTO revocation is an important step in fulfilling President Trump’s vision of a stable, unified, and peaceful Syria," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, adding that the revocation will come into effect on Tuesday.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order terminating US sanctions program on Syria, a move that aims to end the country's isolation from the international financial system.

Syria's foreign ministry told Reuters that the lifting of sanctions on HTS was a "positive step toward correcting a course that previously hindered constructive engagement."

The written statement said Syria hoped the move would "contribute to the removal of remaining restrictions that continue to impact Syrian institutions and officials, and open the door to a rational, sovereign-based approach to international cooperation."

The ministry also said that Sharaa was planning to attend the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in September. The UN Security Council still has sanctions on both HTS and Sharaa himself, which require a Council decision to remove.