Israeli Reports: Maher Assad, Assef Shawkat Suspects in Hariri Assassination
Yediot Ahronot Israeli newspaper reported on Saturday that the international investigation committee in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premiere Rafik Hariri will “introduce a new list of accusations against Syrian security officials.”
The reports said that handing the names of the accused to Damascus has been “postponed due to the Syrian unrest.”
“According to estimations, two members from President Bashar Assad’s family will be on the list, his brother Maher Assad and his brother-in-law Assef Shawkat,” they said.
The newspaper added that the “Lebanese suspects, Mustafa Badreddine and Salim Ayyash, left Lebanon and are currently hiding in Iran.”
Arrest warrants against four Lebanese suspects accompanied the release of the in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was released on Thursday.
The four individuals are likely Hizbullah members.
Meanwhile, Der Spiegel German magazine leaked that “new indictments in the STL will include Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian suspects.”
On a related note, security sources told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the Israeli army ruled out any military escalation along the Lebanese border after the release of the indictment.
“The military is monitoring the situation in Lebanon and it is on full alert, but it doesn’t expect that it (the indictment) would have a direct affect on the situation along the border,” the sources said.
Yediot Ahronot noted that “Hizbullah has no interest in heating up the situation in Lebanon or at the border with Israel. It is currently worried about the situation in Syria and the president (Assad) who is becoming weaker.”
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