Hezbollah 'won't escalate' after 13 charged in explosives case
Hezbollah will not escalate over the charges filed by Judge Claude Ghanem against 13 suspects in the Dahr al-Baidar explosives case and "a decision has been made to give political contacts a chance," political sources told the pro-Hezbollah daily al-Akhbar.
Hezbollah has not issued an official statement, but its MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan said that "the indictment issued by the Government Commissioner to the Military Court against a number of Lebanese citizens lacks the most basic rules of the National Pact, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Charter, and numerous Lebanese laws, all of which guarantee the legitimate rights of any resistance against the occupation."
He pointed out that "the detainees and the rest of the accused citizens were performing a national duty in defense of their country, state sovereignty, and to protect the Lebanese people, for which they deserve honor rather than trial."
"They have no connection to all the false accusations issued by parties inside and outside the rulimh authority," Hajj Hassan added, referring to the accusations that the explosives were meant to be used in assassinations.
"Regardless of the local and foreign political targeting that accompanied this case, the reliance of this decision on certain articles of the Penal Code is completely incompatible with the mission the defendants were performing. This accusation is unfair and unjust, and its merits are subject to well-known political dictates," the legislator stated.
"These resistance fighters were not in a position to undermine state security and safety, but were rather confronting the Israeli enemy, which threatens Lebanon's existence through its continuous occupation and the daily crimes of assassination, bombing, and destruction it commits against our country and people," the MP argued.
The charges marked the latest sign of a dramatic shift in relations between Hezbollah and Lebanon after two wars between the Iran-backed group and Israel in the past three years.
For decades, Hezbollah moved weapons freely in parts of Lebanon. That changed in March, when the government declared the group's military activities illegal following the outbreak of the latest war.
Two defendants were arrested when authorities seized the shipment earlier this month and remain in custody. The other 11 remain at large and were charged in absentia. Five were identified only by nicknames because their real names remain unknown.
The charges include crimes against internal state security, possession of weapons and explosives, and forming illegal associations aimed at undermining state authority, the state-run National News Agency said.
The truck was stopped at a checkpoint on the main highway linking Beirut to the eastern Bekaa Valley earlier this month. It carried 780 kilograms of explosives, including 250 kilograms of TNT and 250 kilograms of C-4 plastic explosives, according to judicial officials.
The seizure sparked heated public debate, with many accusing Hezbollah of planning to assassinate domestic opponents as it faces mounting pressure to disarm.
The government outlawed Hezbollah's military activities hours after the group fired rockets into northern Israel, triggering a war that has killed nearly 4,000 people in Lebanon and left Israeli forces occupying a large swath of the country's south.
Hezbollah fired the rockets two days after Israel and the United States launched a war on Iran, its main backer.
Hezbollah has refused to recognize the government's decision.
Source: Naharnet
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