Now Lebanon - Khalil reiterates his bloc’s stance against STL, October 16, 2011

Change and Reform bloc MP Youssef Khalil said on Sunday that “his bloc will not approve [the cabinet providing Lebanon’s share of] funding for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL),” which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

“The STL funding file cannot be approved because the [UN-backed] tribunal is politicized,” Khalil told Free Lebanon Radio.

“We will not accept that Lebanon remains threatened…we cannot be submissive to the pressure of either approving of the STL or being subjected to international sanctions.”

The Hezbollah-led March 8 parties – which currently dominate Lebanon’s cabinet – have opposed a clause in the Lebanese annual state budget pertaining to the funding of the UN-backed court, while President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati have repeatedly voiced Lebanon’s commitment to the tribunal.

Four Hezbollah members have been indicted by the STL in Hariri’s assassination. However, the Shia group strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.

Lebanon contributes 49 percent of the STL’s annual funding.

Regarding the Syrian army’s violations of the Lebanese border, Khalil said that “mistakes happen, especially because the borders are overlapping.”

The MP added that he “thinks that the [Lebanese] government made a mistake by not handling the issue through legal and diplomatic ways.”

Last week, Syrian army tanks crossed the Lebanese border near the town of Aarsal and fired several gunshots on Lebanese territory. The next day, the Syrian troops shot and killed a farmer near Aarsal.

Thousands of Syrians have fled to Lebanon in recent months, often using illegal border crossings, to escape the unrest gripping their country

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops are engaged in a deadly crackdown on protests against almost five decades of Baath Party rule which broke out mid-March, killing over 3,000 people according to the UN Human Rights Committee, and triggering a torrent of international condemnation.

Khalil also rejected the United States accusation that Iran plotted to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington.

“The only beneficiary of this accusation is the US because of the problems it is facing in the Middle East,” he said.

“Iran would not plan to kill the Saudi envoy in a way that can be discovered that easily.”

The MP added that he “thinks that the [Lebanese] government made a mistake by not handling the issue through legal and diplomatic ways.”