BEIRUT — A United Nations-backed court has handed down indictments requesting the arrest of four members of Hizbullah in connection with the 2005 killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, according to Lebanese media reports.

Lebanon state prosecutor Saeed Mirza has received the indictments, which are meant to remain sealed for 30 days to allow him to examine them. But local and international media, some citing judicial sources, immediately reported that the arrest warrants named four men: Mustafa Badreddine, Salim al-Ayyash, Hassan Issa and Asad Sabra. 

Badreddine is Hizbullah’s chief operations officer, a top military commander. He replaced his former cousin and brother-in-law Imad Mugniyeh in that position after Mugniyeh was assassinated in Syria in 2008 according to news reports. 

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

The indictment came more than six years after Rafik Hariri was blown up by a powerful explosion on the Beirut Corniche along with 21 of his aids and entourage. A UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon was established afterwards to examine and prosecute this and other crimes that followed the assassination.

The UN investigation team initially pointed the finger at four top Lebanese generals in charge of the country’s security – who were imprisoned for four years before they were released. Then the tribunal accused Syrian officials (whose identities they then tried to keep secret), and finally, last Thursday morning, decided that Israel’s principal enemy in Lebanon, the Hizbullah, was to blame.

The Lebanese press had made similar reports for months, however, and almost three years before that, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel reported the details of what the indictment supposedly contained. The news of the indictment produced immediate chaos within the new Lebanese government headed by Najib Mikati that was convening to approve its final “policy statement” before submitting it to parliament for a vote of confidence.

The agreement on the policy statement put an end to differences between Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Hizbullah over the tribunal. 

Significantly, the approval of the policy statement came on the day the tribunal issued its long-awaited indictment and arrest warrants. 

In its policy statement, the government stresses Lebanon’s respect for U.N. resolutions and pledges to follow the tribunal’s path in order to reach the truth in Hariri’s assassination, according to highlights of the statement released by Mikati’s press office.

Saad Hariri, Rafik’s son and a former prime minister himself, welcomed the news of the indictments’ release. 

“The days of the murderers are gone. My heart is full of joy. The martyrs may now rest in peace,” he said in a statement. “I vow ahead of you to keep this country in peace under the ceiling of security.” 

Over the past year, Hizbullah has slammed the tribunal as an “Israeli project” targeting the resistance and designed to foment strife. Hizbullah has denied any involvement in the assassination.

Residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hizbullah stronghold, seemed unaffected by the release of the indictment Thursday, as cars cruised through the suburban streets and shops were open as usual.

Hizbullah, which has two members in the current government, forced the collapse of Hariri’s government in January after he refused to stop co-operating with the court, known as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The group and its allies resigned from Hariri’s unity government just days before the tribunal prosecutor filed his petition for the indictments to a pre-trial judge. 

The tribunal was set up in The Hague in 2009 by the United Nations to try those alleged to have carried out the bomb attack that killed Hariri and 22 others. 

Hisham Jaber, a retired Lebanese army general, told Al Jazeera from Beirut that he didn’t think those named in the indictments would be arrested. 

“Hizbullah denied its relation with this crime since the beginning,” said Jaber, without speculating on who would be named. 

“Those people, whether they are members of Hizbullah or close to Hizbullah, I don’t think the Lebanese authority has the ability to arrest them if they are still in Lebanon. I think this mandate will stay open until those people will deliver themselves to the criminal [court].” 

But Fares Soueid, a leading member of the Saad Hariri’s Western-backed March 14 coalition, told the AFP news agency: “This is a big day for Lebanon … We have been waiting for this for six years. We hope that justice will be served and that Lebanon will be able to look toward a more stable future.” 

The indictments have been twice amended while the pre-trial judge assessed whether there was enough evidence to proceed with a trial. 

Saad Hariri’s successor, Najib Mikati — who was appointed with the blessing of Hizbullah — said the government will deal with the indictments “responsibly and realistically.” 

“Today we are facing a new reality that we must be aware of … bearing in mind that these are accusations and not verdicts,” Mikati said at a press conference. “All suspects are innocent until proven guilty.” 

Mikati is expected to state that his government, which is dominated by Hizbullah and its allies, is committed to international resolutions as long as they do not threaten civil peace. 

But observers have said that this basically means his cabinet will not co-operate with the tribunal. 

Hizbullah has said the international court is a tool of the United States and Israel and wants Lebanon to halt all cooperation with it, including withdrawing Lebanese judges and ending its share of funding for the court.

 

Lebanon, according to experts, now has 30 days to serve out the arrest warrants. If the suspects are not arrested within that period, the tribunal will then make public the indictment and summon the suspects to appear before the court. 

The findings of the tribunal have been the subject of wide speculation in Lebanon and there is fear that an indictment of members of Hizbullah could spark sectarian unrest.