BEIRUT: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon will likely  release information linking the four indicted Hezbollah members to other assassination attempts on the lives of Lebanese figures before and after the murder of statesman Rafik Hariri, a source familiar with the probe told The Daily Star Thursday.

“The STL will likely release information that indicates a connection between Hariri’s assassination with those of others,” the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, adding that the international court would release the information before the end of August.

Five-time Prime Minister Hariri was assassinated on Feb. 14, 2005 after a massive car bomb hit his motorcade while making its way through the Ain al-Mreisseh, near Downtown Beirut. Twenty-two others, mainly Hariri’s bodyguards, were also killed in the blast, which prompted widespread protests against Syria’s military presence in Lebanon.
Prior to Hariri’s assassination, MP Marwan Hamadeh had been the target of an assassination attempt and was seriously wounded on Oct. 1, 2004, when a car bomb exploded next to his motorcade.

Assassination attempts also took place following the events of Feb. 14, 2005, such as the attempts on the lives of Former Defense Minister Elias Murr and journalist May Chidiac.
On July 29, The Hague-based court lifted confidentiality on the full names and aliases of the four Hezbollah suspects a month after it handed Lebanon sealed indictments and arrest warrants against them.

Hezbollah has repeatedly denied involvement in the assassination of Hariri and has blasted The Netherlands-based tribunal as part of conspiracy by the United States and Israel against the resistance group.
Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, has vowed that his group will not cooperate with the STL and said the four suspects would never be apprehended, “not even in 300 years.” Nasrallah said he expects the four would be indicted in absentia instead.

In a statement by the STL Wednesday, the court’s general prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare, said he was examining material that had been “hand-delivered” by Hezbollah officials. Shortly after the release of the STL statement, Hezbollah categorically denied that its officials had supplied the court with materials relating to the probe.