An unnamed Hezbollah source said that his party is expecting the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) to issue its indictment “at any moment.”
“We expect the indictment to be issued at any moment…[but] we do not think it will have [negative] repercussions on the ground,” the source was quoted as saying in As-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper’s Thursday edition.
“We believe we have succeeded in absorbing the impact of the indictment that [incites] sectarian [strife],” the source added in response to reports that the UN-backed international tribunal will indict members of Hezbollah for former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination.
The source also said that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s political aide Hussein Khalil is in contact with PM Najib Mikati on behalf of Hezbollah.
Hezbollah refuses “to address the STL issue [using] direct clauses” in the upcoming ministerial statement of the cabinet, the source added.
The newly-formed Lebanese cabinet was formed on June 13 after almost five months of deliberations between the March 8 parties. The cabinet committee has yet to draft a Ministerial Statement.
Before bringing down Saad Hariri’s cabinet in January, Hezbollah had been pressing him to disavow the STL.
The ministerial statement of Saad Hariri’s government recognized the tribunal.
-NOW Lebanon
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