Hezbollah betrokken bij moord op Hariri

De minister van Binnenlandse Zaken van Libanon, Marwan Sharbel, heeft vrijdag de namen bekendgemaakt van vier personen die door het Hariri-Tribunaal in Leidschendam worden gezocht. De namen werden donderdag al in Libanese media genoemd. Twee van hen, Mustafa Badreddine en Salim Ayyash, zouden lid zijn van Hezbollah.

Despite its unrivaled ability to impose its will on the country, Hezbollah’s legitimacy in the eyes of non-Shi’ite Arabs in Lebanon and beyond has significantly diminished in recent years. The issuing of indictments against four Hezbollah members for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri will only serve to accelerate and compound this process. Once, Hezbollah presented itself and was seen as an Arab force concerned above all with making war against Israel. The movement’s ability to avoid humiliating defeat by the Jewish state thrilled Arab publics. But this moment did not last. A series of events in the past three years has served to increasingly recast Hezbollah in its original colors – as a sectarian, Shi’ite creation and ally of Iran.