Naming Names in Rafik Hariri Tribunal

The UN Tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has named names. Not surprisingly, two of the four were senior members of Hizbullah. The Guardian notes that all four were members of Hizbullah.

The Islamic terror group, with ties to both Damascus and Tehran, denounced the tribunal once again as a pawn of the US and Israel.

The four men named are: Mustafa Badreddine, Salim al-Ayyash, Hassan Issa and Asad Sabra.

Badreddine is Hezbollah's chief operations officer, according to the Daily Star, an English-language newspaper based in Beirut. He replaced his former cousin and brother-in-law Imad Mugniyeh in that position after Mugniyeh was assassinated in Syria in 2008, the newspaper reported.

The indictment alleges Badreddine masterminded and supervised the plot to kill Hariri, while Ayyash led the cell that actually carried out the operation, the Star wrote.

Expect Syria and Iran to make a stink over the handing down of the indictment and how this is part of some plot by the US and Israel - all while ignoring that Syria has long used Hizbullah to pursue its interests in Lebanese politics.

Syria considers Lebanon to be its personal playground and within its sphere of influence; it was not above using force and intimidation to get its way. Likewise, Hizbullah has no problems using violence to pursue its own agenda and is now in a position of power because it still remains armed to the teeth despite the UN SCR 1701 that requires all militias operating in Lebanon to be disarmed.