Hezbollah and the Tribunal

The story of Hezbollah and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is really interesting. Since the beginning, they were against its creation. They were ready to destroy Lebanon in order to block the tribunal.

Let's examine what happened so far:

• October 21, 2006 – The United Nations sent a draft plan for the creation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to the Lebanese government.

• October 30, 2006 –Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned of "street demonstrations" to demand early elections if the National Dialogue conference failed to form a national unity government. He said Hezbollah and its allies should have at least a third of the Cabinet, which would give it veto power. Such power can help block the government if they wanted to proceed with the International tribunal.

• November 11, 2006 – The five Shi'a Ministers resigned from the Cabinet. Nevertheless, two days later, the remaining eighteen Cabinet Ministers unanimously approved a draft accord outlining the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, sending it to the Security Council for endorsement. Pro-Syrian leaders in Lebanon and Hezbollah argued that the Cabinet did not have the authority to approve the accord because it lacked the sectarian representation called for in the Lebanese constitution.

• November 21, 2006 – Lebanon's Industry Minister Pierre Amine Gemayel was assassinated. Hours after the assassination, the Security Council approved the draft accord for the creation of the Hariri tribunal, sending it to the Lebanese government for final approval.

• November 25, 2006 – The remaining Cabinet Ministers approved the creation of the Hariri tribunal. However, President Émile Lahoud called the vote "null and void", deeming the Cabinet unconstitutional due to its lack of Shi'a representation. In addition, the Speaker of the Parliament and leader of Amal, Nabih Berri, was not expected to bring the matter before the Parliament for a vote on the same constitutionality grounds.

• December 1, 2006 – Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators amassed peacefully in downtown Beirut setting up tents and vowing not to leave until Prime Minister Fouad Siniora resigned.

• December 9, 2006 – Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Émile Lahoud rejected the proposal to create the Hariri tribunal, citing the Cabinet as unconstitutional. The Cabinet is expected to seek parliamentary approval for the tribunal without the President's signature, however Nabih Berri, the Speaker of the Parliament is not expected to convene the Parliament for a vote, citing similar unconstitutionality grounds.

• May 2007, Hezbollah condemns Hariri court

• Lebanon must ratify tribunal by 10 June, 2007. If the parliament does not ratify the tribunal by 10 June, the Security Council may independently authorize a tribunal, invoke Chapter 7

• The U.N. resolution 1757 (2007), which took effect June 10 2007, was approved 10 to 0 by the 15-nation council.

• June 2009, Hezbollah has lost the parliamentary elections. However, they still wanted the third of the government in order to block the STL work.

• July 16, 2010, Hezbollah labeled the STL to be an Israeli project.

• July 22, 2010, Hezbollah mentioned that his members might be indicted for the assassination of PM Hariri and his friends.

• August 9, 2010, Mr. Nasrallah tried unsuccessfully to reveal the proof that shows that Israel was involved in the assassination.

• January 12, 2011, Lebanon's national unity government has collapsed after 11 ministers from Hezbollah and its allies resigned (BBC).

• June 13, 2011, PM designate Mikati forms new cabinet dominated by Hezbollah (BBC).

• (update) June 30, 2011, Confirmed indictment submitted to the Lebanese authorities (STL).

One wonders why the fear from that tribunal? Why they were objecting the tribunal since before its creation?

In every single phase of the mess after the assassination of Rafik Hariri and his friends, the tribunal cancellation/elimination was their ultimate goal. If, as they claim, Israel did assassinate Hariri, why the fear from the tribunal?