July 25, 2010 - Now Lebanon - Nasrallah says he will not allow STL to harm Resistance

During a Sunday ceremony honoring the children of Hezbollah martyrs, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that he will not allow the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) or anyone else to harm the Resistance.

This comes after Nasrallah said earlier in the week that the tribunal would indict Hezbollah members for the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The Hezbollah chief also said that his party is ready for talks, either in the cabinet or at the national dialogue, to find a solution for the political crisis that arose after he said last week that the STL’s pending indictment is an Israeli project.

He added that Hezbollah accepted a proposal made on Sunday by former Prime Minister Salim Hoss for a special cabinet meeting to solve the crisis over the issue of the indictment.

However, Nasrallah said he will not attend talks convened on the presumption that Hezbollah members are implicated in Rafik Hariri’s murder.

Israel and Hezbollah’s other opponents are using the case of Hariri’s assassination to target the Resistance, Nasrallah also said.

The root of the problem is the UN-created International Independent Investigation Commission that investigated the Rafik Hariri assassination, Nasrallah said, adding that the commission’s officers had links to Israeli intelligence.

According to Nasrallah, the investigation based its findings on the testimonies of false witnesses.

Earlier in July, the STL held a public hearing over former General Security head Brigadier General Jamil as-Sayyed’s request for documents related to his imprisonment. Sayyed, who was jailed for four years for his alleged involvement in the Rafik Hariri murder, claims he is the victim of false testimony.

Nasrallah added that “all of us in Lebanon want to know the truth behind Rafik Hariri’s assassination… We all paid the price of the repercussions of this assassination. We all support achieving justice, and not amnesty, after learning the truth.”

“The commission since the first day [of its work] prepared an indictment and a verdict, and [then] began searching for evidence [to fit these conclusions],” he also said.

“What the Israeli media is saying is true, and it matches our information,” he said, referring to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief Gabi Ashkenazi’s July comment that he expects tension to rise in September when the STL is expected to release its indictment.

“The Israeli information is from the STL. [Certain] security officials said the same things a while ago in Lebanon. That is why we call for forming a Lebanese parliamentary, judicial, security or ministerial commission to bring the witnesses and investigate with them to find out who told them to say what they said,” Nasrallah added.