Report: Hizbullah Behind Hariri”s Murder
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has reached surprising new conclusions and is keeping them secret, the German Der Spiegel weekly reported Monday, adding investigators believe that Hizbullah was behind ex-Premier Rafik Hariri”s assassination.
"There are signs that the investigation has yielded new and explosive results," the weekly”s English version "Spiegel International" said.
"Spiegel has learned from sources close to the tribunal and verified by examining internal documents that the Hariri case is about to take a sensational turn," it added.
"Intensive investigations in Lebanon are all pointing to a new conclusion: that it was not the Syrians, but instead special forces of … Hizbullah that planned and executed" Hariri”s Feb. 2005 murder, the weekly said.
It said the tribunal”s general prosecutor Daniel Bellemare and other court judges apparently want to hold back the information that they have been aware of for about a month.
It said Security Forces Captain Wissam Eid, who was killed in a blast in January last year, had identified eight mobile phones bought in Tripoli and activated six weeks before Hariri”s assassination, and were used exclusively for communication among their users.
"But there was also a “second circle of hell,” a network of about 20 mobile phones that were identified as being in proximity to the first eight phones," it said.
"According to the Lebanese security forces, all of the numbers involved apparently belong to the “operational arm” of Hizbullah," Spiegel said.
It identified a man called Abd al-Majid Ghamlush, from the town of Rumin, called his girlfriend from one of the phone lines.
Ghamlush, according to Spiegel is a Hizbullah member. He was also identified as the buyer of the mobile phones. He has since disappeared, and perhaps is no longer alive.
"Ghamlush”s recklessness led investigators to the man they now suspect was the mastermind of the terrorist attack: Hajj Salim, 45," Spiegel said.
Salim, who hails from Nabatiyeh is considered to be the commander of the "military" wing of Hizbullah and lives in Beirut”s southern suburbs, it said, adding that Salim”s secret "Special Operational Unit" reports directly to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Salim assumed the duties of his slain predecessor Imad Mughniyeh along wit the latter”s brother-in-law, Mustafa Badr al-Din, serving as his deputy. The two men report only to their superior, and to General Kassim Sulaimani, their contact in Tehran, according to Spiegel International.
Investigators, according to the Spiegel source, have apparently discovered which Hizbullah member obtained the small Mitsubishi truck used in Hariri”s bombing. They have also been able to trace the origins of the explosives, more than 1,000 kilograms of TNT, C4 and hexogen.
Spiegel said that Hizbullah or its backers in Iran were allegedly involved in Hariri”s assassination because the former premier”s growing popularity could have been a thorn in the side of Nasrallah.
It added that President Bashar Assad is no longer in the line of fire. "Hardly anything suggests anymore that he was personally aware of the murder plot or even ordered the killing."
Spiegel said that the tribunal is holding back its new information about the assassination probably because the investigators fear that it could stir up the situation in Lebanon.