Der Spiegel Smears Hezbollah

Ahead of the Lebanese elections some media reports are engaging in a straightforward effort to tarnish Hezbollah's image by linking the resistance group to Rafiq Hariri assassination.

German magazine Der Spiegel published a report on Saturday, claiming that it was informed by 'a source' that a special tribunal set up to investigate the Hariri assassination has evidence that Lebanon's resistance movement Hezbollah had 'planned and executed' the incident.

Building a murder conspiracy against the most potent up and coming political party in an Arab world overwhelmingly bereft of electoral politics, based on a 'source' that remains unamed, is rather unseemly for a well-reputed publication like Der Spiegel.

Add to that the fact that serious Lebanon-dedicated commentators have not hinted at any Hezbollah involvement in the deed, makes the Spiegel story sound more like a negative political tactic parading as a news item.

On February 14, 2005 a bomb attack near the Hotel St. Georges in Beirut killed Hariri and 22 others. The attack was at first blamed on elements from Syria.

Six months later in August 2005, four Lebanese generals, former head of the presidential guard Mustafa Hamdan, security services director Jamil Sayyed, domestic security chief Ali Hajj and military intelligence chief Raymond Azar, were charged and arrested in relation with the assassination.

The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon, however, called for their release in April, leaving the race for hunting suspects in the case wide open.

Now with two weeks remaining until Lebanon's General Elections on June 7 -- in which Hezbollah is tipped to secure a majority of seats -- Der Spigel's report is pointing an accusatory finger at the resistance movement.

The German magazine's claim, which is based on Hezbollah's alleged purchase of eight cell phones weeks before the Hariri assassination that were not used after the Feburay 14 incident, was not confirmed by the UN tribunal.

"We don't know where they are getting the story from. The office of the prosecutor doesn't comment on any issues related to operational aspects of the investigation," AFP quoted a spokeswoman for the chief prosecutor Daniel Bellemare.

Political analysts believe that the allegations are the West's latest move aimed at reducing Hezbollah's growing popularity among the Lebanese and helping Western-backed candidates or those favored by the hugely undemocratic Arab states of the Middle East to fare better in the elections.

The US and the West have spared no efforts in affecting the outcome of the crucial vote in Lebanon. US Vice-President Joe Biden, who arrived in Beirut earlier in the week, said that the White House would decide on an aid package to the country based on election results.

"The US will evaluate the shape of its assistance program based on the composition of the new government and the policies it is advocating," he said on Friday. That is Obama administration code for: If the Hezbollah coalition wins the majority, be sure aid will be thinner than oxygen at the summit of Mount Everest.

MMN/HAR