Hezbollah denounces UN tribunal decision

Hezbollah today denounced a UN decision to form an international tribunal in former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination as a “violation” of the nation’s sovereignty.

“The resolution, as much as it constitutes a violation of the Lebanese state and an attack on its internal affairs, it is contrary to legal rules and the charters and principles of the United Nations and the objectives for which it was established to achieve,” said a statement issued by the group.

“Therefore, it (the resolution) amounts to a flagrant violation that makes the resolution illegal and illegitimate at the national and international level,” the statement said.

The UN Security Council voted last night to approve the tribunal, bypassing Lebanon’s parliament which has failed to meet to endorse it.

The Shiite Muslim militant group has previously warned against the creation of the tribunal under the militarily enforceable Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.

Separately, Mahmoud Komati, deputy leader of Hezbollah’s political bureau, said on Al-Arabiya television that the resolution “was a violation of Lebanese sovereignty because the Security Council regarded Lebanon as lacking constitutional institutions and without state authority”.

The Hezbollah statement said the resolution placed Lebanon under “international tutelage, without decision-making and sovereignty in an unprecedented development in the history of sovereign states”.

The pro-Syrian and pro-Iranian group said the government was giving “a glorious favour” to the US administration through which it could use Lebanon as a card that could be used to exert political pressure.

Hezbollah insisted the creation of the tribunal would not help solve the political crisis buffeting Lebanon. It called on the pro-government faction “to realize that the real crisis has always been over political participation in decision-making among all Lebanese factions.

Hezbollah and its opposition allies have demanded a veto-wielding share in the Cabinet. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, backed by the anti-Syrian majority, has rejected the demand and has resisted an opposition campaign to step down.