July 22, 2010 - Now Lebanon - Helou predicts security threat if Hezbollah is accused of Hariri’s assassination

Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Helou told OTV on Thursday that the security situation in Lebanon will deteriorate if Hezbollah is accused of being behind the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Media outlets have reported that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will indict members of the Resistance, while Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in turn, has accused the tribunal of being an Israeli project.

Helou called on Lebanese leaders to defuse the tension prevailing in the country. The political situation in Lebanon has grown anxious as March 14 and March 8 alliance figures have exchanged heated words over the STL and the issue of Israeli espionage in the telecom sector.

The MP also rejected the naturalization of Palestinians, saying that it is an Israeli plot. He added that granting the right of ownership to Palestinians would be very dangerous.

This comes after political forces have drafted proposals for granting civil rights to Palestinians following the parliament’s rejection in June of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt’s proposal on the issue.