Israel on Wednesday called for "action" against Hezbollah after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon returned a guilty verdict against one of its members for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
"The Hezbollah terrorist organization is implicated in this murder and obstructed justice," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
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The devastation left by the bomb that targeted the motorcade of Rafik Hariri in Beirut on February 14, 2005
(Photo: AP)
"Hezbollah has seized the future of the Lebanese people in the service of foreign interests," the statement said.
"The international community must act against this terrorist organization to help Lebanon free itself from the threat," it said.
"The organization's armament, its efforts to build an arsenal of precision missiles and its operations endanger the entire region."
Salim Ayyash, 56, was convicted in absentia by the STL based in the Netherlands, over a huge suicide bombing in Beirut that killed the Sunni billionaire politician and 21 other people.
But judges said there was not enough evidence to convict Assad Sabra, 43, Hussein Oneissi, 46, and Hassan Habib Merhi, 54, over the blast.
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Lebanese mourners hold up a sign during the funeral of Rafik Hariri in Beirut, Lebanon, February 16, 2005
(Photo: Reuters)
The judges also said there was no evidence to directly link Syria - the former military overlord in Lebanon -- or Hezbollah's leadership to the attack.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah refused to hand over the four defendants and rejected the court's legitimacy.
Meanwhile, a blistering letter released by the Saudi Arabian government called for swift punishment against the terror group.
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Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia and supporters stand at his Beirut gravesite on the day the tribunal on his assassination announces its verdict, Aug, 18, 2020
(Photo: EPA)
"The Saudi government sees the court's verdict as the emergence of the truth and the start of a process to achieve justice by prosecuting, arresting and punishing those involved," the kingdom's foreign ministry said on Twitter.
"Saudi Arabia, by calling on Hezbollah and its terrorist elements to face justice, stresses the need to protect Lebanon, the region and the world from the terrorist practices of this group," he added.
Reprinted with permission from i24NEWS