August 23, 2010 - YaLibnan - US does not rule out Iranian Revolutionary Guard role in Hariri’s murder

August 23, 2010 ⋅ 11:50 am ⋅ Post a comment
Filed Under Hariri, Hezbollah, Iran

A U.S. source did not rule out the involvement of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Al-Liwaa newspaper on Monday quoted the source as saying that “rising Iranian tension over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon ( STL) and remarks made by Iranian officials in this regard was due to fears that Iranian names could be implicated in Hariri’s assassination.”

Al-Liwaa said the source did not rule out that indictments could touch Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who is better known as Hassan Mahdavi, Force Commander of Quds Brigade in Lebanon, and Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in charge of the Lebanon-based Quds Brigade in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

This Brigade, which Hezbollah is affiliated with, is in charge of the Revolutionary Guards’ activity outside Iran, al-Liwaa added.

Hezbollah was established in Lebanon in 1982 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In its founding statement, Hezbollah declared itself committed to the “creation of an Islamic republic in Lebanon.” Tehran then sent hundreds of clerics and Revolutionary Guards to Lebanon to preach Iranian theology and draft recruits.

Hezbollah receives substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid from Iran and Syria.