The Hezbollah suspect to be named by the world tribunal investigating the assassination of the late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, is the brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car bomb in Damascus, and was scheduled to have replaced Mughniyeh as Hezbollah’s chief of operations, a report said. Hariri’s son Sa’ad, currently serving as the country’s Prime Minister, reportedly plead with the international tribunal to refrain from publishing the name of the suspect who murdered his father, fearing it would hamper ties with Syria and Iran.
The prime suspect was named Mustafa Badr Aldin , also known as “Elias Sa’ab,”was also involved in the failed assassination attempt of Kuwait’s ruler in 1985.
Israel’s television Channel One reported Thursday night, Hariri’s son Sa’ad, currently serving as the country’s Prime Minister, reportedly plead with the international tribunal to refrain from publishing the name of the suspect who murdered his father, fearing it would hamper ties with Syria and Iran.
The television report explained that the Saudi king is due to visit Beirut with Syria’s president Friday in an effort to quell the rising tension surrounding the investigation into Hariri’s death.
Syria and Saudi Arabia have long been on opposite sides of a deep rift in the Arab world, with Syria backing Hezbollah and Hamas. The kingdom is a U.S. ally, along with Jordan and Egypt.
President Bashar Assad and King Abdullah agreed that the "challenges facing Arabs, mainly in occupied Palestine, necessitate that all (Arabs) double their efforts to upgrade inter-Arab relations," Syria's official news agency reported after the end of the meeting.
The two leaders stressed the need to support all means to boost stability and unity in Lebanon.
Relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia began to thaw in recent years, and Thursday's visit appears to indicate the countries are trying to show a united front as regional tempers mount, including those in neighboring Lebanon over pending indictments in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Last week Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said a decision to indict members of the movement for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Haririr in 2005, is politically motivated.
In a televised speech, Nasrallah said Lebanon’s current Prime Minister Saad Hariri informed him that the U.N. international tribunal investigating his father’s death intends to indict members of Hezbollah.
"I don't agree with charging any Hezbollah members. They want to take us into a tunnel," said Nasrallah who described the tribunal as an "Israeli project."
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