Beirut - 1 August 2020

1. Various of traffic on road where former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005

2. Various of statue of Hariri

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Marwan Hamadeh, former economy minister who survived:

"It's going to be a great, great moment, not only for me as a victim but for me as a Lebanese, as an Arab and as an international citizen looking for justice everywhere. This is the first time a special tribunal has been created to focus and to investigate a case where a single assassination then developed into serial murders, has really completely turned over the fate of one country."

4. Glass plaque bearing Hariri's image in Hamadeh's office

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Marwan Hamadeh, Lebanese legislator and survivor of a political assassination:

"It's going to be a message, it's going to say there is an organization in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East who has been, until now, using political murder as a way of putting countries under their control."

6. Close of Hamadeh's hands

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Marwan Hamadeh, Lebanese legislator and survivor of a political assassination:

"Beside the justice of men, there is a Godly justice and the major suspects - either Iranian, Syrian or Lebanese, who were involved in a way with the Hariri assassination - have evaporated (disappeared)."

8. Exterior of Al-Amin Mosque in Beirut

9. Closeup of mosque minarets, with tower of neighbouring St George's Cathedral on right

10. Various of Hariri's grave site

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Omar Nashabe, former consultant for the defense team in the Special Tribunal of Lebanon:

"This is the first international tribunal for terrorism and it was set up without the approval of the Lebanese parliament, whereas it relies on Lebanese law that actually criminalizes terrorism because there is no international consensus on how to define terrorism. So it did not get the approval of the local parliament and it was passed under chapter seven."

12. Books on wall of Nashabe's office

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Omar Nashabe, former consultant for the defense team in the Special Tribunal of Lebanon:

"There are no indications that there are any surprises that would actually be so radical and dramatic. I think the indictment that has been amended several times in the main case, the charges that are in the indictment will be most likely confirmed by the court. This will lead, later on, to perhaps and very likely that we will have an appeal so therefore it is not the end of the course."

ARCHIVE: Beirut - 14 February 2005

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15. Various of cars burning amid aftermath of bomb blast that killed Hariri

A United Nations tribunal in The Hague will finally deliver verdicts this week in the case of four members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, accused of assassinating former prime minister Rafik Hariri more than 15 years ago.

The verdicts in The Hague are likely to raise tensions in Lebanon still further, a fortnight after the port explosion in Beirut.

Hariri was blown up by a truck bomb in the Lebanese capital in 2005, in an attack that killed a total of 22 people and injured several hundred others.

He was Lebanon's most prominent Sunni politician at the time and was seen as generally pro-Western, while Hezbollah is a Shiite movement backed by Iran.

The death of Hariri changed the face of Lebanese politics and split the country into two broad factions - one of them largely pro-Western, the other influenced heavily by Iran and Syria.

The killing triggered widespread street protests which eventually led to Syrian troops withdrawing from Lebanon, although Syria denied any role in his murder.

The UN tribunal was set up in 2007 under a Security Council resolution, and initially five suspects were tried in absentia in the case, all of them Hezbollah members.

One of the group's top military commanders, Mustafa Badreddine was killed in Syria in 2016.

The four remaining defendants are Salim Ayyash, also known as Abu Salim; Hassan Oneissi, who changed his name to Hassan Issa; Hassan Habib Merhi; and Assad Sabra.

They are charged with offenses including conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and face maximum sentences of life imprisonment if convicted.

Sentences will not be announced Tuesday but will be determined at later hearings.

But they are unlikely to serve any prison time: despite international arrest warrants, they still haven't been handed over to the court, and Hezbollah has vowed they never will be.

Even if they are all convicted, Hezbollah as a group will not officially be blamed as the tribunal only accuses individuals, not groups or states.

Marwan Hamadeh served under Hariri as economy minister, and was himself the target of a car bombing in 2004, a year before Hariri died.

Hamadeh survived, although one of his bodyguards was killed.

He said that even if no individual is brought to justice at the end of the tribunal hearing, the case will have succeeded in sending a message about the organisation or the country that ordered Hariri's death.

"It's going to say there is an organization in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East who has been, until now, using political murder as a way of putting countries under their control," he said.

The verdicts are expected to add to the current turmoil in Lebanon, still reeling after the Beirut port blast.

Lebanese officials believe the port explosion was caused by the accidental ignition of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate which was stored in a warehouse there.

While it remains unclear what caused the fire that led to the explosion, Hezbollah - which maintains huge influence over Lebanese politics - is being sucked into the public fury directed at the country's ruling class.