July 24, 2010 - Now Lebanon - Franjieh forecasts destruction if STL indicts Hezbollah members

In an interview with Al-Manar television Friday night, Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Franjieh said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) pending indictment into the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is designed to stir up sectarian strife in Lebanon.

His remarks echoed a similar statement from Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah last week that the STL’s indictment is an “Israeli project” designed to target Hezbollah through sectarian conflict.

On whether Lebanon is facing threats of internal strife or an Israeli war following the indictment, Franjieh said, “If something happens, I expect an eruption of strife. The STL is the first spark of this strife.”

The Marada Movement leader said the feared violence could be averted if rival Lebanese factions deal with the STL’s indictment as a move to cause conflict.

“But if we deal with it as an honest [indictment], this will lead to destruction,” he said.

Franjieh called on PM Saad Hariri to prevent attempts to incite sectarian violence in the country.

“This stage will prove if Hariri is a statesman or not. He cannot say that he is incapable of doing anything. He can,” Franjieh said.

Hariri knows that an indictment from the STL that implicates Hezbollah’s involvement in his father’s assassination is “wrong, if not entirely fabricated,” he added.

“Hariri must take a firm stance on this issue. He must not support any indictment that is not based on evidence,” Franjieh said.

Nasrallah claimed on Thursday that Hariri informed him back in May that the STL will indict members of his party.