Date: Jun 26, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Former STL investigator: Hezbollah killed Hariri Victoria Yan| The Daily Star BEIRUT: The former head of investigations of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon testified Monday that Hezbollah orchestrated the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri – not an extremist Sunni group as claimed by a discredited confession video. “As the investigation progressed and the evidential picture became clearer, it was clear that the persons who were responsible for this crime was not an extremist Sunni group. It was Hezbollah,” Michael Taylor said. In the hours following the 2005 Beirut bombing targeting Hariri, an anonymous caller phoned Lebanon’s Al-Jazeera office purporting to be a member of an organization named Nusra and Jihad Group in Greater Syria. The caller directed the publication to uncover a videotape hidden in a tree in Beirut’s Riad al-Solh square. The video showed Ahmad Abu Adass, a young Palestinian in Lebanon, confessing to be the suicide bomber behind the assassination. Abu Adass claimed to have taken action against Hariri, calling him an “agent of the infidel Saudi regime.” Yet ensuing investigations first carried out by the Lebanese security apparatus, then the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission and finally the STL, ultimately ruled out Abu Adass as a lead suspect. According to investigators, Abu Adass was likely a pawn used by several Hezbollah members to divert responsibility for the assassination. Later, those men – Hussein Oneissi, Assad Sabra, Hassan Merhi, Mustafa Badreddine and Salim Ayyash – were indicted by the STL for their alleged crimes. Defense counselor David Young, representing the interests of Sabra, however questioned the former investigator as to why further inquiries were not made into Khaled Taha – a Lebanese engineer associated with members of Al-Qaeda. Taha was described as a close friend of Abu Adass who phoned him moments before the latter’s disappearance in January 2016. On the same day, it was found that Taha had left Lebanon for Syria. “The investigation in 2009 to 2010 was very keen on at least locating Mr. Taha to ascertain his relationship with Abu Adass and whether he was involved the abduction of Abu Adass,” Taylor said. “And that is confirmed in two objectives within the [investigation] strategy. One was to investigate involvement in Abu Adass’ disappearance; another was to identify any person who could link Abu Adass to Al-Qaeda or Taha.” By 2013 however, the senior prosecutor had decided to end the examinations of Taha. Despite rigorous attempts by both the Lebanese authority and the STL investigation team, he was never found. By then, the investigation was pointing toward the direction of Hezbollah – particularly after a covert phone network was uncovered centered in Beirut’s southern suburbs and south Lebanon’s Nabatieh. Both areas are known to be Hezbollah strongholds. The possibility of a Sunni extremist group orchestrating the assassination had grown less likely in the eyes of the investigators. “We could find absolutely no evidential links [to Al-Qaeda] so whether [Taha] was or was not a member, I’m not sure how relevant it was to the investigation,” Taylor said.