According to Der Spiegel, Hariri murder probe sees Hezbollah role
AFP - May 23, 2009
BERLIN - The UN commission investigating the murder of Rafiq Hariri now suspects Hezbollah was behind the former Lebanese premier's assassination, a German newspaper reported Sunday.
New evidence shows that special forces of the Shiite militant group "planned and executed" the car bomb attack that killed Hariri and 22 others in February 2005, Der Spiegel reported on its website, citing sources close to the tribunal and internal documents.
But the head of the investigative commission, prosecutor Daniel Bellemare of Canada , and other tribunal judges "want to hold back this information, of which they been aware for about a month," the newspaper said. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor refused to comment on the report. "We don't know where they are getting the story from. The office of the prosecutor doesn't comment on any issues related to operational aspects of the investigation," the spokeswoman said.
In Beirut , Hezbollah declined to comment on the story.
Last month, the UN special tribunal handling the case ordered the release, due to a lack of evidence, of four Lebanese generals who had been held for nearly four years without charge over the assassination.
The UN investigative commission has said in the past that there was converging evidence that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were involved in Hariri's killing.
But Syria has consistently denied any involvement in Hariri's assassination and the killing of other anti-Syrian politicians and figures since then. The Der Spiegel report comes ahead of June 7 elections in Lebanon that pits the US-backed parliamentary majority against an alliance headed by the Hezbollah which has the support of Syria and Iran .
