Nasrallah on Monday
Photo: AP
Lebanon unconvinced by Nasrallah's 'proof'
MPs say evidence displayed by Hezbollah regarding Israel's involvement in Hariri plot is circumstantial
Lebanese leaders appear none too stricken with the "evidence" brought forth by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah for Israel's involvement in the murder of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
"He didn't convince anyone except for the production team that prepared his speech yesterday," said Lebanese MP Mohammad Kabbara, a member of the anti-Hezbollah camp, in a statement.
Press Conference
Roee Nahmias
Hezbollah chief claims group intercepted Israeli drone transmissions, used footage to set up ambush for commando troops which killed 12. In same speech Nasrallah also accuses Israel of involvement in Hariri murder plot
Other officials in Beirut said Nasrallah's "evidence" was solely circumstantial, and therefore inadmissible.
Al-Mustaqbal movement official Mustafa Alloush, also of the anti-Hezbollah camp, said that "DNA and fingerprints are material evidence, but what Nasrallah displayed were pictures, which count as circumstantial".
"A criminal investigation team is the only authority that can rule whether the pictures he showed are real and important, or not," Alloush added.
'Ruined his reputation'. Monday's press conference (Photo: AP)
The general coordinator of March 14, MP Fares Soueid, said the speech hurt Nasrallah's reputation. "Next time there is a similar speech, I will wait for the next day to read about it in the paper," he scoffed.
"The press conference was not worthy of a man with such prestige and the secretary-general of an organization. It served neither him nor Hezbollah. The only convincing move will be his handing over everything in his possession to the international tribunal."
Former Lebanese President Amin al-Jumayyil was also doubtful. "The data displayed by Nasrallah is insufficient in and of itself. These are simple, circumstantial testimonies that cannot be relied upon. If the international tribunal has hard evidence, it can move forward with the investigation without delay due to what Nasrallah said," the politician, a known Hezbollah rival, told Al-Jazeera in an interview late Monday.
Nasrallah said Monday that his organization had intercepted transmissions by Israeli drones, which allowed it to set up an ambush for IDF commandoes raiding the Lebanese coastal village of Antsaria in 1997.
In an especially vehement televised speech, Nasrallah also attempted to shift blame for the murder of Rafik Hariri to Israel, saying the state had used spies to try to convince the Lebanese prime minister Hezbollah was trying to hurt him.
Meanwhile a Lebanese military prosecutor charged on Tuesday a Christian party member who was formerly an army general with spying for Israel, the first politician to be charged in a widening espionage case.
Judge Sakr Sakr accused Fayez Karam of the Free Patriotic Movement of dealing with "the enemy's intelligence and meeting their officers abroad, and giving them information by phone", according to the charge sheet.
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