The STL recently published the indictment, accusing four Hezbollah members of PM Rafik Hariri’s assassination on February 14, 2005, among other murders.
Hezbollah’s General Seceratary Hassan Nasrallah later vowed that the four suspects will never be handed over to the stand trial.
Contrary to common belief of Nasrallah being the decision maker in the party, many reports state that this is far from the truth. True it is Iran’s decision, But in Hezbollah hierarchy, Nasrallah is the party’s facade; an excellent speaker with the needed charisma to attract followers.
Several reports state that a small “security” cell inside the party are the decision makers taking their orders directly from Iran for implementation. Reports continue to say that Imad Mughnieh who died in Syria in 2008 when a bomb exploded inside his vehicle was the head of this cell, with his brother-in-law Mustapha Badreddine as an active member.
It is reported that Mughnieh who was the mastermind of many terrorist acts had started the suicide bomber concept in 1983 when he had a Hezbollah volunteer drive a truck filled with explosives into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. This cell was also famous for its high profile kidnappings and the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, to name a few.
Mughniyeh oversaw the group’s terror network and established operational cells around the world, and it had been reported that he was a vital ally of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.
After his assassination in 2008, it is reported that Badreddine headed this security cell, and thus all decisions in Hezbollah.
Mustapha Badreddine, also known as Elias Saab, is one of the four Hezbollah members accused in Hariri’s assassination, was reportedly Mughniyeh’s “teacher and trainer” in military ops and bomb construction. Badreddine is said to be more ruthless than Mughnieh.
They both collaborated in planning and executing Badreddine was arrested in Kuwait in 1990, and later escaped to the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait, and Iran’s revolutionary guard escorted him to Lebanon.
Badreddine will never be handed over to the STL unless he decides to give himself up. But this will never happen. Hezbollah will strategically, politically, and militarily weaken, especially with the internal problems it had been facing.
ngnourgerges@gmail.com
* Beirut