SHOTLIST:

Beirut - 30 June 2011

++16:9++

1. Wide exterior of Justice Palace

2. Mid of Justice Palace sign

3. Mid of media outside the Justice Palace

4. Set up of Future Movement bloc Member of Parliament, Atef Majdalani

5. Photograph of Majdalani with Saad Hariri, son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Atef Majdalani, Future Movement bloc MP:

"We consider the release of the indictment today is part of our martyr's rights, and this indictment is the first step to achieve the truth then justice in order to stabilise Lebanon."

FILE: Beirut - 14 February 2005

++4:3++

7. Various of explosion site where Rafik Hariri was killed

FILE: Beirut - 2004

++4:3++

8. Various of Rafik Hariri giving a speech

STORYLINE:

A U.N.-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri delivered an indictment and four arrest warrants Thursday, the latest turn in a case that has transformed this Arab nation and brought down the government earlier this year.

The names of the accused were not released, but the court has been expected to accuse members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Many fear that could lead to street protests and plunge the violence-wracked

country back into a new crisis.

The long-awaited indictment was confirmed by the office of Hariri's son, Saad.

According to tribunal rules, Lebanese authorities now have 30 days to serve the indictments on suspects or execute arrest warrants. If they fail, the court can then order the indictment published and advertised in local media.

Saad Hariri also served as Lebanon's prime minister. But he was forced from office in January, when Hezbollah and its allies toppled his government in a conflict over the tribunal.

The group, which is also backed by Syria, fiercely denies any role in the killing and says the tribunal is a conspiracy by Israel and the United

States.

The dispute over the investigation encapsulates Lebanon's most explosive conflicts: the role of Hezbollah, the country's most powerful political and military force; the country's dark history of sectarian divisions and violence; and Lebanon's fraught relationship with neighbouring Syria.

Rafik Hariri was killed along with 22 other people in a massive truck bombing along Beirut's waterfront on February 14, 2005.

The indictment raises concerns of a possible resurgence of violence that has blighted this tiny Arab country of four million people for years, including a devastating 1975-1990 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.

Dozens of supporters of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, uncovered a giant billboard in Beirut on Thursday, just metres (yards) away from the site where Hairiri was killed in a huge bomb blast on February 14, 2005.

The sign, which reads "Time for Justice", was unveiled to coincide with the start of the trial into his assassination at the Hague.

A timer is mounted on top of the billboard to record how many days the tribunal will take.

"We hope that they will achieve the truth in this trial but there are no suspects (present), they are being tried in absentia," said Beirut Resident Mahmoud Najem.

The four main Hezbollah suspects behind the bombing are not at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in The Netherlands, because they are yet to be arrested.

Hezbollah has denied any involvement in Hariri's assassination and has condemned the trial as a conspiracy by the US and Israel.

Hariri, who also held Saudi citizenship, was one of Lebanon's most influential Sunni leaders, with wide connections in the Arab world and international community.

Hezbollah, a Shiite group, is backed by Shiite Iran.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of people removing piece of cloth covering a billboard of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri

2. Mid of billboard with a sign that reads (Arabic) "Time for Justice"

3. Close of clock showing number '1', counting the number of days the trial will take

4. Tilt-down from a billboard to people gathered around sign

5. Wide of people in a cafe watching TV

6. Close of TV showing blast scene

7. Mid pan of people watching TV in cafe

8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Najem, Beirut Resident:

"We hope that they will achieve the truth in this trial but there are no suspects (present), they are being tried in absentia."

9. Wide of Beirut skyline

10. Mid of cars driving down a street

11. Tilt-down of newspaper stand

12. Close of newspaper reading (Arabic) "The Tribunal" and showing a photo of Hariri

13. Mid of man looking at newspaper stand

SHOTLIST

1. Wide shot of street scene

2. Close-up of poster of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Legislator:

"The investigation's report is the first step in the course of uncovering the truth. We will look forward to (the investigation) continuing to reach the justice which alone will be the source of full comfort to the Lebanese people, the Lebanese state and its stability."

4. Cutaway

5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Legislator:

"The results reached by the UN international commission will not be subject to any internal or external bargaining - because the blood of the Lebanese people and the blood of Rafik Hariri and the others won't be starting any bargaining nor any political trade. We will not accept that, as it becomes a means of political or non-political punishment."

6. Exterior of the Grand Serail; Lebanese flag

7. Arrival of Justice Minister Charles Rizk and Social Affairs Minister Nayla Moawad

8. Arrival of Education Minister Khaled Kabbani

9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi

"The UN investigation report, led by judge Detlev Mehlis, was highly appreciated by the Lebanese. The report expressed itself by the strong facts that it included and by the extreme professionalism, as was expected by the Lebanese people, without any compliance, biased or political influences.''

10. Cutaway journalists

11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi

"The aim of discovering the details of this huge crime is to stop the series of the political assassinations in Lebanon and in all the Arab countries.''

12. Cutaway cameraman

13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi

"Despite of all that has happened, nothing will change the brotherly relations between the Lebanese and the Syrians. The strong relations between Lebanon and Syria should not be affected under any circumstances. This bond is stronger than the condemned deterioration and mistakes that happened in the past."

14. Ghazi Aridi leaving the presser

STORYLINE

The son and political heir of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Saturday praised a UN probe that implicated top Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials in the murder of his father.

"The investigation's report is the first step in the course of uncovering the truth," said legislator Saad Hariri in a televised speech from his residence in the Saudi Arabian city of Jiddah.

Many Lebanese politicians are temporarily living abroad because they fear violence at home.

Hariri's statement came two days after the chief UN investigator, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, released the findings of the UN probe into his father's killing.

Mehlis said in his report there was a clear link between Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials in the massive bombing that killed Hariri and

20 others in central Beirut on February 14.

Syria angrily rejected as false, unprofessional and politicised the UN report that accused it of approving Hariri's assassination.

Saad Hariri, who heads the largest anti-Syrian bloc in Lebanon's parliament, also said that the findings of the probe "will not be subject to any internal or external bargaining".

His statement was the first official comment on the UN report by the Hariri family.

Hariri spoke shortly before Lebanon's cabinet discussed the report, which it said was based on "strong facts and high level of professionalism".

The cabinet also called on Syria to cooperate honestly with the investigation, but Information Minister Ghazi Aridi insisted the probe would not

affect his country's ties with Damascus, adding the cabinet would discuss calls for an international tribunal after the UN investigation ended.

The elder Hariri's assassination prompted mass anti-Syrian protests and intensified international pressure on Syria to withdraw its army, ending 29

years of control of its neighbour.

Many Lebanese blamed the killing on Syria and pro-Syrian Lebanese security chiefs.

Syria and its Lebanese allies denied any involvement.

Four Lebanese generals who ran the security services at the time Hariri was killed have been jailed for alleged involvement in the murder.

Lebanese citizens on Tueday reacted to the verdicts of the trial in absentia of four members of the Hezbollah militant group accused of involvement in the truck bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

The presiding judge at the U.N.-backed tribunal in the Netherlands said the evidence against them was "almost entirely circumstantial."

The verdicts were delayed by nearly two weeks as a mark of respect for victims of the explosion in Beirut's port which killed around 180 people, injured more than 6,000, left a quarter of a million with homes unfit to live in.

Presiding Judge David Re said the written judgment in the long-running trial amounted to more than 2,600 pages with some 13,000 footnotes.

Sketching the complex political backdrop for the assassination, Re said Hariri was a supporter or reducing the influence of Syria and Hezbollah in Syria in the months before his death.

Judges were "of the view that Syria and Hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate Mr. Hariri, and some of his political allies," Re said, but he added that "there was no evidence" that the Hezbollah leadership or Syria was involved in the truck bombing.

One supporter of the late Prime Minister said he had been waiting for the result of the trial "for 15 years" and that "God willing today the truth will be made public."

Beirut - August, 18, 2020

1. Various posters of Lebanon's late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, on Beirut roads

2. Various of people watching TV in a coffee shop

3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abo Azizi, Hariri supporter:

"Rafik Hariri was killed and may he rest in peace. It is not important to take your right on the ground, but it is important that you know who killed Rafik Hariri so that people know how a peaceful man whose hands were not tainted with blood was killed."

4. Hariri posters in Tareeq Al-Jadideh neighborhood

5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abed Itani:

"We have been waiting for the truth for 15 years and God willing, today the truth will be made public. All what we want from the world and the Lebanese state is that those who carried out this explosion be punished in accordance with justice."

6. Various of Lebanon's late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri statue

STORYLINE

The prosecutor of the United Nations tribunal set up to bring to justice the assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri filed the first indictment in the case on Monday, the court announced.

Details of suspects named in the indictment and the charges against them were not released.

Hariri was killed along with 22 other people by a huge truck bomb blast on February the 14th, 2005, on Beirut's Mediterranean sea front.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Shiite militant group Hezbollah, said last year he expects members of his group to be indicted, a move that many fear could re-ignite sectarian violence that has erupted repeatedly in the tiny nation.

The Iranian and Syrian-sponsored group fiercely denies any role in the killing.

Hariri was a Sunni, and many Lebanese worry that if the tribunal draws links between the assassination and Hezbollah it could provoke bloodshed between Lebanon's Shiite and Sunni communities.

Tribunal registrar Herman van Hebel said in a statement that prosecutor Daniel Bellemare sent the indictments to Judge Daniel Fransen, who must decide whether to confirm or dismiss them or ask for more evidence.

A billionaire businessman, Hariri was credited with rebuilding Lebanon after its 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Fransen is expected to take six to 10 weeks studying the evidence before reaching a decision.

The names of suspects and evidence against them will only be released if he decides the evidence is strong enough to merit putting them on trial.

News of the indictment came as Lebanon's government has been plunged into turmoil by the resignation last week of Hezbollah and its allies from a broad coalition administration led by Hariri's son, Saad, who remains as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.

Hezbollah quit the government after Saad Hariri refused to renounce the UN-backed tribunal investigating his father's killing.

SHOTLIST:

+16:9+

1. Mid of website Special Tribunal for Lebanon showing indictment

+16:9+

++NIGHT SHOTS

Beirut, Lebanon - 17th January 2011

2. Wide of traffic near the Prime minister's office

3. Mid of traffic

4. VOXPOP (Arabic), Mohammad Ghalayini, voxpop:

"I do support the truth but I do not know exactly what is in the indictment. I do not know if it is politically biased or not. Some are saying it is but I am with the truth."

5. Mid of traffic

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Name not given, voxpop:

"I am with the arrest of the assassins of the Late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, but I need the power to be back with the Lebanese judiciary system because there is no more justice in Lebanon. It is all politically biased."

+16:9+

Beirut, Lebanon - 15th January 2011

7. Various of Hariri's grave

+4:3+

File

Beirut, Lebanon - 14th February 2005

8. Wide of bomb blast scene

9. Various firefighters trying to put flames out

10. Mid bystanders carry injured person away on stretcher

11. Wide of scene

12. Various of crater caused by blast

13. Mid firefighters at scene

14. Firefighters carry person away on stretcher

15. Various of smoke plumes caused by explosion

SHOTLIST

Beirut - 28 February 2009

1. Wide pan of Beirut cityscape

2. Ein El Mraiseh street, site of explosion that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

3. Mid of Rafik Hariri statue

4. Mid of damage to building

5. Memorial flame where Hariri was assassinated

6. Set up of Member of Parliament Aatef Majdalani in his office

7. Close of photograph featuring Majdalani and Hariri

8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Aatef Majdalani, Lebanese legislator from the Future Movement bloc:

" The start of the international tribunal is the beginning of the saving of Lebanon and the start of the international tribunal is the beginning of the end of the political assassination."

9. Cutaway Hariri pin on Majdalani's lapel

10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Aatef Majdalani, Lebanese legislator from the Future Movement bloc:

" When the slain Prime Minister President Rafik Hariri was assassinated, the Syrian regime was in Lebanon and Lebanon was under the Syrian hegemony. The entire security was under their hands and that is why the international investigation committee pointed its accusation against the regime. I think that the tribunal should be able to try any suspect or criminal."

11. Tilt down exterior of Al-Amin mosque in central Beirut

12. Sign indicating "1475" days since Hariri's assassination

13. Various of Hariri's grave

14. Wide of Lebanese justice minister, Ibrahim Najjar, in his office

15. Cutaway close-up of Lebanese flag

16. SOUNDBITE (English): Ibrahim Najjar, Lebanese Justice Minister:

" The tribunal will be really independent and I think that, at least as far as Lebanese politicians are concerned, we have no intention whatsoever to interfere with the tribunal and its independence. This is really the way we see the tribunal functioning - with independence and capacity and only in order to find out the truth and to give their verdict."

17. Cutaway camera lens

18. SOUNDBITE (English): Ibrahim Najjar, Lebanese Justice Minister:

" Lebanon has really shocked with too many assassinations. I would say since more than 30 even 40 years. And it is about time now to terminate all that processes. We have to know who did what and this will be very benefit for us."

FILE: Beirut - 14 March 2005

19. Pan across protest crowd, protesters holding Lebanese flags

20. Mid of posters featuring Lebanese security chiefs being held up

Beirut - 28 February 2009

21. Set up of Samar Al-Hajj, wife of detained Brigadier General Ali Hajj

22. Portrait of Brigadier General Ali Hajj

23. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Samar Al-Hajj, Wife of detained Brigadier General Ali Hajj:

" We have been detained illegally for three and a half years. There is no existence for any law that can justify the detention of freedom. The detention is justified by a non-existent authority, in an illegal prison which does not exist on the prisons' map in Lebanon and does not relate to the chief of police as other prisons. If we want to speak legally we should not go to The Hague, otherwise they can take them (the four pro-Syria generals) in an arbitrary way, exceeding all the protocols and keep them there until the end of the parliamentarian elections."

FILE: Beirut - 15 February 2005

24. Various of aftermath of explosion which killed Hariri, firefighters tackling blazing vehicle wreckage

STORYLINE

Investigators have pored over evidence for four years - a human tooth found at the bombing site, a suicide truck that was stolen in Japan and made its way to Lebanon, reams of phone records and hundreds of interviews.

Now the focus in one of the Mideast's most dramatic political assassinations is shifting to prosecution, with the convening on Sunday of an international tribunal on the slaying of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Despite the start of proceedings in the Netherlands, it is still not known who will be accused in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 other people on a seaside street in Beirut on February 14, 2005.

Also unknown is the most politically explosive question - whether the proceedings will implicate Syria's government, which many Lebanese believe was behind the murder of a man who led opposition to the long Syrian military occupation of Lebanon.

Syria has denied any involvement.

The tribunal was welcomed on Saturday by Lebanese lawmaker Aatef Majdalani, of the Future Movement bloc, who said it would be the saving of Lebanon.

Majdalani said that Syria would be in the spotlight as Lebanon was under the Syrian regime at the time of the assassination.

The United Nations Security Council had to impose the mixed Lebanese-international Special Tribunal after Lebanon's parliament was too divided to approve it.

But Lebanese Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar insisted that the tribunal would be truly independent.

Most likely the first defendants before the court will be four pro-Syria generals who led Lebanon's police, intelligence service and an elite army unit at the time of the assassination.

They are the only people in custody, though they have not been formally charged.

The wife of one of the four officers detained, Brigadier General Ali Hajj, on Saturday called their detention "illegal".

Some in Lebanon doubt the court will ever bring out the full truth, believing it might avoid digging deep to ensure Syria does not react by stirring up trouble in Lebanon and other parts of the region.

Trials could also further polarise Lebanon's politics, feeding the power struggle between pro- and anti-Syria factions.

Administrators have said the tribunal will take up to five years to finish its work, and the top UN prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare of Canada, said in a statement on Saturday that it will be thorough.

As prime minister, Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was credited with rebuilding downtown Beirut after the 1975-90 civil war, and with trying to limit Syria's influence.

In a country known for political assassinations, his killing stands out for its far-reaching impact and set off huge anti-Syrian street protests in Lebanon and intense international pressure which forced Damascus to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon a few months later, ending nearly three decades of military domination.

But his death also threw Lebanon into turmoil.

Anti-Syria factions supported by the West won control of the government but were unable to exert any authority while locked in a struggle with Syria's allies, led by the Hezbollah movement.

The first UN investigator into the killing, Detlev Mehlis of Germany, said the assassination plot's complexity suggested a role by the Syrian intelligence services and its pro-Syria Lebanese counterpart.

But the two chief investigators who followed Mehlis have worked quietly and have not named any individuals or countries as suspects.

Last April (2008), Bellemare said investigators had evidence Hariri's killing was done by a "criminal network" also linked to a series of bombings and shootings that have killed seven anti-Syria figures and caused other deaths since Hariri's assassination.

The UN team worked under tight security for fear of attacks or intimidation, living in fortified compounds in Beirut and travelling in heavily protected motorcades.

The team also kept tight control of information about the investigation.

One piece of evidence is the tooth of the suicide bomber.

Forensic examinations determined the truck's driver was a man in his 20s who was not from Lebanon, according to Bellemare's predecessor as top investigator, Serge Brammertz of Belgium.

Investigators interviewed hundreds of people, including the presidents of Lebanon and Syria.

They acquired records listing more than 5 billion telephone calls and mobile phone text messages.

They determined the truck used in the bombing was stolen in Kanagawa, Japan, in October 2004 and purchased two months later near the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

The probe has also seen numerous twists.

Husam Husam, a Syrian barber and self-proclaimed intelligence operative, at first implicated Syrian officials in testimony to investigators.

Then he left Lebanon for Syria and appeared on TV, recanting and saying the Hariri family paid him to frame Syria.

Lebanon's government dismissed the claim.

Another purported Syrian intelligence officer, Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, was at first said to be a key witness, then a suspect - then he vanished while under house arrest in France.

A Lebanese man who was questioned about the sale of cell phone chips allegedly used for communicating in the bombing was found dead in what was ruled a car accident.

Syria's interior minister, Brigadier General Ghazi Kenaan, died in his Damascus office in late 2005 about a month after speaking with investigators.

Syrian officials said he shot himself to death, but some in Lebanon believe he was killed.

Kenaan ran Lebanon for two decades until 2003.

Former Lebanese premier Saad Hariri said on Tuesday his father was assassinated for his opposition to Syria, speaking after verdicts were issued by a UN-backed tribunal on the killing of his father 15 years ago.

The tribunal convicted one member of the Hezbollah militant group and acquitted three others of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

Hariri said his father was killed because he wanted to end Syrian involvement in Lebanon.

He added that if the Lebanese "want coexistence", everyone must admit to their mistakes.

"Hezbollah must cooperate in this matter," Hariri said.

Leidschendam - 18 August 2020

1. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, son of assassinated Prime Minister Rafic Hariri:

"He was assassinated because he was against the policy of the regime in Syria and he wanted to take this regime out of Lebanon. We all said this, right? But when it comes from a court, that shows that what we've said before in the past, is true."

++BLACK FRAMES++

2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, son of assassinated Prime Minister Rafic Hariri:

"Coexistence is the basis and if we want coexistence, everyone has to admit to their mistakes. The country will not rise if everyone lies to the other. We have to be honest with each other, in order to be able to move to the next stage of building the country. We have to - Hezbollah must cooperate in this matter. And I think that today the court has shown high credibility, showing that this court is not politicised."

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide exterior of Prime Ministers' office

2. Close-up of Lebanese flag

3. Wide of Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati before news conference

4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Najib Mikati, Lebanese Prime Minister:

"After years of waiting, the International General Prosecutor issued an indictment and showed information that was gathered by the international investigations and accused members of being involved in the crime."

5. Cutaway Lebanese flag

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Najib Mikati, Lebanese Prime Minister:

"We are today in front of a new reality that requests a wise approach and putting the supreme interest of the country, civil peace, our national unity and knowing the truth above all concerns. So we will deal with responsibility and reality with this incident, starting from that the accusations whatever its sources are not verdicts and the accusations need real and undoubted proves and any accused person is innocent until its accusation is proved."

7. Wide of news conference

STORYLINE:

Lebanon's prime minister Najib Mikati said national unity, peace and truth should trump all other concerns, after a United Nations-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri delivered an indictment and four arrest warrants on Thursday.

The UN tribunal's decision marks the latest turn in a case that has transformed this Arab nation and brought down the government earlier this year.

At a news conference in Beirut, Mikati said it demanded "a wise approach and putting the supreme interest of the country, civil peace, our national unity and knowing the truth above all concerns."

The names of the accused were not released, but a Lebanese official said at least one member of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah is among those indicted.

The official saw the arrest warrants that were issued on Thursday and gave the names to The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

One of the people named is Mustafa Badr-Eddine, believed to have been Hezbollah's deputy military commander.

He is the brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh.

Many fear the indictment of Hezbollah members could lead to street protests and plunge the violence-wracked country back into a new crisis.

The long-awaited indictment was confirmed by the office of Hariri's son, Saad.

According to tribunal rules, Lebanese authorities now have 30 days to serve the indictments on suspects or execute arrest warrants.

If they fail, the court can then order the indictment published and advertised in local media.

Saad Hariri also served as Lebanon's prime minister, but he was forced from office in January, when Hezbollah and its allies toppled his government in a conflict over the tribunal.

The group, which is also backed by Syria, fiercely denies any role in the killing and says the tribunal is a conspiracy by Israel and the United States.

The dispute over the investigation encapsulates Lebanon's most explosive conflicts: the role of Hezbollah, the country's most powerful political and military force; the country's dark history of sectarian divisions and violence; and Lebanon's fraught relationship with neighbouring Syria.

Rafik Hariri was killed along with 22 other people in a massive truck bombing along Beirut's waterfront on February 14, 2005.

The indictment raises concerns of a possible resurgence of violence that has blighted this tiny Arab country of four million people for years, including a devastating 1975-1990 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.

A UN-backed tribunal in the Netherlands is delivering verdicts Tuesday in the trial in absentia of four members of the Hezbollah militant group who are accused of involvement in the truck bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The verdicts were delayed by nearly two weeks as a mark of respect for victims of another devastating explosion - the detonation of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut’s port.

The August 4 blast killed around 180 people, injured more than 6,000, left a quarter of a million with homes unfit to live in and plunged a nation already reeling from economic and social malaise even deeper into crisis.

Presiding Judge David Re called for a minute's silence to start the hearing to honor victims of the blast and their families as well as those made homeless by the port blast.

During the trial, which started in 2014 and spanned 415 days of hearings, the tribunal in Leidschendam, near The Hague, heard evidence from 297 witnesses.

Initially, five suspects were tried, all of them Hezbollah members.

Charges against one of the group’s top military commanders, Mustafa Badreddine, were dropped after he was killed in Syria in 2016.

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

They are charged with offenses including conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.

If they are convicted, hearings will be held at a later date to determine their sentences.

As the UN-backed court has no death sentence, the maximum sentence is life imprisonment.

None of the men is every likely to serve time as Hezbollah has vowed not to hand over any suspects.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers can appeal the verdicts.

AGENCY POOL

Leidschendam - 18 August 2020

1. Various of judges arriving

2. Various of lawyers in court

3. Security guard

4. Wide of judges

The trial of the Hezbollah members and supporters suspected of being behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, will finally start this week, nine years after his murder.

The suicide truck bomb attack that killed Hariri and 22 others on February 14, 2005 was one of the most dramatic top-level assassinations the Middle East and immediately caused an increase in what were already huge sectarian divisions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

The United Nations-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon will begin on Thursday on the outskirts of The Hague in the Netherlands.

However, the five key suspects behind the attack will be tried in absentia as they are still yet to be arrested.

They included four Hezbollah members indicted in 2011 with plotting the attack and another supporter charged last year. All of them remain at large.

The trial will be held under a hybrid system of international and Lebanese law.

Hezbollah has condemned the trial as a conspiracy by its archenemies the US and Israel. It's also denied any involvement in Hariri's assassination.

Despite widespread criticism of the trial, some inside Lebanon are optimistic that justice will prevail.

"We are confident that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will conduct these proceedings and the procedure in a very fair way in order to let the Lebanese at last find out the truth," said Ibrahim Najjar, a former Lebanese Justice Minister.

Other are hoping that the trial will help bring an end to the string of political assassinations which have rocked the country since Hariri's death.

The last attack was on December 27, 2013 when former finance minster Mohammed Chatah, a Hezbollah critic and also former aide to Hariri, was killed in a car bombing in Beirut.

"We and the international community wanted the tribunal to punish the criminals and to stop political assassinations," said legislator Atef Majdalani, a member of the Future Movement bloc that is headed by Hariri's son, Saad, also a former prime minister.

"Truth will emerge, justice is coming, therefore you should either move along this road, the road of justice, or justice will get you," Majdalani added.

But many question whether justice will indeed be done while the key defendants in the case are still at large.

AP TELEVISION

++16:9++

1. Wide of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's grave with photos of him in the background and the statute of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon next to the grave

2. Close of the UN-ratified Statute reading (Arabic) "Statute of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon"

3. Mid of Hariri grave with photo on top

4. Wide of former Lebanese Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar walking in his house

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ibrahim Najjar, former Lebanese Justice Minister:

"We are confident that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will conduct these proceedings and the procedure in a very fair way in order to let the Lebanese at last find out the truth."

6. Close of Najjar's hands holding a pair of glasses

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ibrahim Najjar, former Lebanese Justice Minister:

"I think that for the first time since 1943, Lebanon is about now to discover the truth within an independent tribunal."

8. Close of photograph of Najjar

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ibrahim Najjar, former Lebanese Justice Minister:

"Yes, there is a fear, at least somebody, some witnesses have declared that they fear to appear before the court and to say everything they have in mind or in their knowledge. I think that there is a real fear because when you kill a witness the truth is affected, that is why I think that there are special precautions, special undertakings that have been decided by the tribunal in order to protect them."

10. Mid of traffic at the explosion site where Hariri was killed

11. Close of Hariri statue

12. Atef Majdalani, Lebanese Member of Parliament walking

13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Atef Majdalani, Future Movement MP:

"We and the international community wanted the tribunal to punish the criminals and to stop political assassinations, and to say that political assassinations will not solve any problems and that criminals responsible will be punished."

14. Close of photo of Majdalani and Hariri

15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr Atef Majdalani, Future Movement MP:

"Truth will emerge, justice is coming, therefore you should either move along this road, the road of justice, or justice will get you and punish the criminals among you."

FILE: AP TELEVISION

14 February, 2005

++4:3++

16. Various of Hariri assassination blast site with burnt out cars and emergency services attempting to control flames

17. Wide top shot of people gathering at Martyrs' Square in Beirut

A U.N.-backed tribunal in the Netherlands is delivering verdicts Tuesday in the trial in absentia of four members of the Hezbollah militant group who are accused of involvement in the truck bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The verdicts were delayed by nearly two weeks as a mark of respect for victims of another devastating explosion - the detonation of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut’s port.

The Aug. 4 blast killed around 180 people, injured more than 6,000, left a quarter of a million with homes unfit to live in and plunged a nation already reeling from economic and social malaise even deeper into crisis.

Guilty verdicts could compound tensions in the tiny country. Hariri was Lebanon’s most prominent Sunni politician at the time of his Feb. 14, 2005, assassination, while the Iran-backed Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim group.

The trial centered on the alleged roles of four Hezbollah members in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others and wounded 226 people. Prosecutors based their case largely on data from mobile phones allegedly used by the plotters to plan and execute the bombing.

During the trial, which started in 2014 and spanned 415 days of hearings, the tribunal in Leidschendam, near The Hague, heard evidence from 297 witnesses.

Initially, five suspects were tried, all of them Hezbollah members. Charges against one of the group’s top military commanders, Mustafa Badreddine, were dropped after he was killed in Syria in 2016.

The remaining suspects are Salim Ayyash, also known as Abu Salim; Assad Sabra, Hassan Oneissi, who changed his name to Hassan Issa and Hassan Habib Merhi. They are charged with offenses including conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.

If they are convicted, hearings will be held at a later date to determine their sentences. As the U.N.-backed court has no death sentence, the maximum sentence is life imprisonment.

None of the men is ever likely to serve time as Hezbollah has vowed not to hand over any suspects. Prosecutors and defence lawyers can appeal the verdicts.

Hariri’s son Saad, himself a former prime minister, is attending the day-long delivery of the judgment and was one of four victims present in the courtroom for the hearing.

ARCHIVE: Beirut - 14 February 2005

++4:3++

1. Various of cars burning amid aftermath of bomb blast that killed Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

2. Various aftermath shots of attack on Hariri's car, fire crews putting out flames

ARCHIVE: Beirut - 21 October 2004

++4:3++

3. Hariri walking to meet Lebanese President Emile Lahoud

4. Hariri meeting Lahoud

5. Close up Hariri

ARCHIVE: Date and location unknown

++4:3++

6. Various of Hariri at rally

7. Various of Hariri greeting people

8. Various of Hariri in meeting with officials

ARCHIVE: Paris, date unknown

++4:3++

9. Various of Hariri meeting French President Jacques Chirac

ARCHIVE: Beirut - 15 February 2005

++4:3++

10. Hariri's son Saad Hariri beside blast crater

11. Lebanese soldiers checking the site

12 . Various of Saad Hariri praying at the blast scene for his father

Former Lebanese premier Saad Hariri says the family accepts the verdicts issued Tuesday by a UN-backed tribunal on the killing of his father 15 years ago.

Hariri told reporters in Leidschendam in the Netherlands: "The court has ruled." Now, he said, the family awaits the implementation of justice.

"Justice will be executed, regardless of how long it takes," he said.

Hariri demanded that truth and justice be also achieved for the Beirut blast on August 4.

The tribunal convicted one member of the Hezbollah militant group and acquitted three others of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Leidschendam - 18 August 2020

1. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, son of assassinated prime minister Rafic Hariri

"The tribunal has issued its verdict and in the name of the family of the martyr the prime minister Rafic Hariri and in the name of the families of the victims, we accept the verdict and demand the execution of justice."

++BLACK FRAMES++

2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, son of assassinated prime minister Rafic Hariri:

"We all know the truth now, and it remains that justice will be executed, regardless of how long it takes."

++BLACK FRAMES++

3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, son of assassinated prime minister Rafic Hariri:

"My demand is that the truth and justice for Rafic Hariri and his comrades leads the way to knowing the truth and achieving justice for all the innocents that perished in the Beirut blast."

++BLACK FRAMES++

4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, son of assassinated prime minister Rafic Hariri:

"And justice for the Beirut explosion is a demand by all Lebanese, don't push them towards confrontation."

SHOTLIST:

01 March 2009

1. Wide of Beirut city skyline

2. Mid of Lebanese army Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) on road

3. Close of APC

4. Wide of traffic on city street

5. Mid of Lebanese army APC under bridge

6. Wide of Al-Amin mosque

7. Close of mosque

8. Wide of people standing around murdered former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's grave inside the Al-Amin mosque

9. Mid of people reciting versus of the Quran at Hariri's grave

10. Mid of Hariri's grave with pictures of Hariri in background

11. Close of Hariri's picture

01 March 2009

12. Wide of people gathering around Hariri's grave

13. Pull out to wide of Lebanese politicians laying a wreath on Hariri's grave

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Marwan Hamadeh, Lebanese legislator from the Democratic Gathering bloc:

"It is the beginning of truth, the beginning of justice and I think that it is a page that is being opened in the history of Lebanon, the page of Justice, the end of impunity and it is a lesson for many regimes around us in the Middle East."

15. Mid of May Chidiac, a Lebanese journalist and survivor of a targeted car bomb attack, laying flowers at grave

16. Photo of Hariri

17. SOUNDBITE (English) May Chidiac, Lebanese journalist and survivor of a targeted car bomb attack:

"We have suffered too much from killing and killing attempts and the explosions that were put here and there for many decades so now we hope this chapter will be over and will be closed."

18. People leaving the Hariri memorial ceremony

FILE: 26 October 2000

19. Convoy of Hariri arriving at presidential palace after being elected Prime Minister

20. Hariri getting out of car and walking into presidential palace

21. Various of meeting between Hariri and then Lebanese President Emile Lahoud

22. Hariri talking mobile phone

STORYLINE:

An international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was starting work on Sunday at its headquarters in a village outside The Hague.

Despite the start of proceedings, it is still not known who will be accused in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 other people on a seaside street in Beirut on 14 February 2005.

Lebanese army forces in armoured personnel carriers were deployed on the streets of Beirut on Sunday to maintain calm.

Hundreds of Hariri supporters gathered peacefully around his grave in downtown Beirut, to mark the beginning of the International Tribunal with many expressing their support.

Marwan Hamadeh, a Lebanese legislator who was targeted by a car bomb in Beirut in 2004, said the tribunal turned a page in Lebanon's history.

Hamadeh said the tribunal "is the beginning of truth, the beginning of justice" and he hoped it would be a "lesson for many regimes around us in the Middle East".

Also paying her respects at the graveside on Sunday was May Chidiac, a Lebanese journalist who also survived a car bomb attack.

Chidiac said she hoped the tribunal would spell the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people.

Four pro-Syrian generals are being held in Lebanese custody although none of them have been formally charged with Hariri's murder.

The generals led Lebanon's police, intelligence service and an elite army unit at the time of the assassination.

Court prosecutor Daniel Bellemare of Canada said he expects to request within weeks for Lebanon to transfer to the court the four generals.

As prime minister, Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was credited with rebuilding downtown Beirut after the 1975-90 civil war, and with trying to limit Syria's influence.

Many in Lebanon believe Syria was behind the assassination.

Syria has denied any involvement.

After the assassination, mass street protests in Lebanon and international pressure forced Syria to withdraw its troops from its neighbour after a 29-year presence.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon to investigate Hariri's killing was set up by the UN Security Council in 2007 and comprises both foreign and Lebanese judges.

It is based in the Netherlands to ensure the safety of staff and an impartial trial.

The judges have not yet been sworn in and the names of Lebanese judges have been withheld out of fears for their safety.

Some in Lebanon doubt the tribunal will ever bring out the full truth, believing it might avoid digging deep to ensure Syria does not react by stirring up trouble in Lebanon and other parts of the region.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on a trip through Africa, issued a statement praising Sunday's tribunal opening.

He said the commencement marked a "decisive milestone" in the efforts by all Lebanese and the international community to uncover the truth, and bring those responsible to justice.

The Hariri court is the latest international tribunal to be based in the Netherlands.

The Hague is home to the International Court of Justice, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal and the International Criminal Court.

SHOTLIST:

1. Various exteriors of Special Tribunal for Lebanon building

2. Various works in courtyard of the building

3. Wide of future courtroom, venue of Tuesday's press conference

4. Mid of sign reading "Special Tribunal for Lebanon"

5. Wide of news conference

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Robin Vincent, Registrar at Special Tribunal for Lebanon:

"As this tribunal has from the taking up of the office by the prosecutor sixty days, two months to apply to the Lebanon authorities, and I just paraphrase here; for the transfer of people and paper. By paper I mean obviously evidence, files, etc, and by people I mean anyone who either the prosecutor asked for, if they are in custody. And that is certainly a matter for them. It is a matter for the prosecutor, it is a matter for the pre-trial judge and a judicial process."

7. Cutaway of reporters

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Robin Vincent, Registrar at Special Tribunal for Lebanon:

"Those detained will be detained in Scheveningen which is, of course, the Dutch penitentiary but with the international corps, as it were. They will be in that area and they will, of course, be with those who are being tried or one person being tried for Sierra Leone, those with the Yugoslav tribunal and those now with the ICC (International Criminal Court). However, let's make it very clear, is that a distinct wing of cells has been acquired by us, is operational, is staffed and is ready in terms of receiving anyone that we get."

9. Various interior of future courtroom, currently a gym hall

STORYLINE:

The registrar of a tribunal that will prosecute suspected assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said on Tuesday the court's prosecutor will likely request the transfer of suspects from Beirut in coming weeks.

Robin Vincent said the prosecutor has 60 days from the date the court formally opens on Sunday to request suspects be turned over for trial.

The court's Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has recently indicated he plans to request the transfer of suspects, Vincent said. He gave no further details of suspects that could be sent to the Netherlands.

Nobody has been charged in the suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others, although four pro-Syria Lebanese generals have been under arrest for more than three years for alleged involvement.

Hariri, a billionaire businessman, had close ties with Western leaders and was credited with helping rebuild Lebanon's capital after the 1975-1990 civil war and trying to limit neighbouring Syria's influence over Lebanon.

The tribunal, based in a former Dutch intelligence agency in a village just outside The Hague, formally opens for business on Sunday even though no judges have yet been named and it still has no rule book for prosecutors and judges.

The U.N. Security Council unilaterally set up the tribunal in 2007 after the speaker of the Lebanese parliament refused to call a session to ratify the statutes to create it.

It is housed in the Netherlands, which already is home to the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal and International Criminal Court, primarily for security reasons.

Bellemare is expected to make a statement on the progress of his investigation at Sunday's opening ceremony.

Vincent, who is the tribunal's administrative chief, said he is ready to detain suspects in a Dutch jail that already holds Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and former Liberian President Charles Taylor among other international war crimes suspects.

"A distinct wing of cells has been acquired by us, is operational and is ready in terms of receiving anyone we get," Vincent told reporters who gathered in a gymnasium that will be transformed into the tribunal's courtroom by year's end.

The tribunal will use Lebanese law applied by a mixture of Lebanese and international judges.

Unlike courts in Lebanon it does not have the death sentence. Its heaviest punishment is life imprisonment.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide of police checkpoint outside Roumyeh prison

2. Mid of policemen

3. Zoom into car carrying the released suspects leaving prison grounds

4. Close of released suspect inside the car

5. Cars leaving

6. Tilt up of fireworks

7. People cheering, pan to man firing AK-47 in celebration

8. Women trilling

9. Men dancing

10. Man beating drum

11. Man distributing sweets

12. Exterior of AlMashari Islamic charity association

13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Sheikh Abdulkader al-Fakahani, al-Ahbash spokesman:

"We have known from the first moment that they were innocent and their arrest was not legal. The Lebanese justice released them today and that's what we were after."

14. Men cheering

STORYLINE

Three men jailed for more than three years in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri were set free on bail on Wednesday, days before an international tribunal was to begin trying the case.

The judge did not explain his decision to release two Lebanese brothers on a bail of 500,000 Lebanese pounds (330 US dollars) each and a Syrian man on a bail of just 100,000 Lebanese pounds (67 US dollars).

The three could still be prosecuted in the case, although no one has been charged in the suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on a seaside street in Beirut on February 14, 2005.

Investigating judge Saqr Saqr's decision, carried by the official news agency, said four other suspects in the bombing - all pro-Syrian Lebanese generals - would remain jailed, which could allow them to be turned over to the international court.

As the news of the release of the Abdel-Al brothers filtered down, several hundred supporters gathered outside offices of Ahmed's faction in a Muslim neighbourhood of Beirut to await their arrival.

Some beat drums, others handed out candy, set off firecrackers or fired off pistols into the air in celebration.

A spokesman for the pro-Syrian Islamic group, known as al-Ahbash, welcomed the release of the brothers, saying it knew they were innocent from the start.

At the time of the assassination, the generals headed the police, military intelligence, a General Security agency, and the Presidential Guard Brigade.

The late Hariri had close ties with Western leaders and was credited with helping rebuild Beirut after the 1975-1990 civil war and trying to limit

neighbouring Syria's influence over Lebanon.

Following his assassination, Syria's army withdrew after mass protests, which also sparked political upheaval and violence.

The UN Security Council ordered an independent investigation into the assassination after its fact-finding mission found that the Lebanese

investigation was flawed.

The Security Council set up the mixed Lebanese-international tribunal in the Netherlands at the Lebanese government's request after parliament split between the majority and the opposition and failed to ratify an agreement with the UN.

The case has been handed over to the tribunal.

The first UN investigator, German Detlev Mehlis, said the plot's complexity suggested Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role.

Hariri's supporters accuse Damascus of the bombing, but Syria denies involvement.

Two of the men freed on Wednesday - brothers Mahmoud and Ahmed Abdel-Al, a member of a pro-Syrian Sunni Muslim fundamentalist group - were detained in 2005.

A UN probe into the slaying said Mahmoud made "interesting" phone calls February 14, including one to former President Emile Lahoud, just before a truck bomb killed Hariri, raising questions about the president.

But the office of Lahoud, a Hariri rival and Syria's staunchest ally, denied the president received the call.

Lahoud's extension of his term in September 2004 for three more years, under pressure from Syria, triggered a sharp disagreement between Damascus, then a dominant power in Lebanon, and Hariri, who opposed the measure then relented before resigning two months later.

Ahmed Abdel-Al was named by the U.N. probe in 2005 as a "key figure" who had extensive contacts with top Lebanese security officials before and after the blast, and tried to hide information from investigators.

The third man freed, Syrian Ibrahim Jarjoura, was arrested in 2006 on suspicion he gave false evidence and misled the investigation.

A U.N.-backed tribunal on Tuesday convicted one member of the Hezbollah militant group and acquitted three others of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Salim Ayyash was guilty as a co-conspirator of five charges linked to his involvement in the suicide truck bombing.

Hariri and 21 others were killed and 226 were wounded in a huge blast outside a seaside hotel in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005.

However, after a years-long investigation and trial, three other Hezbollah members were acquitted of all charges that they also were involved in the killing of Hariri that sent shock waves through the Mideast.

The tribunal's judges also said there was no evidence the leadership of the Hezbollah militant group and Syria were involved in the attack.

In Beirut, Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia and Future Movement officials awaited the verdict by the late prime minister's grave. The verdict was streamed through loudspeakers.

After the verdict Bahia Hariri offered prayers in front the grave.

Future Movement official Sami Fatfat said the verdict 'was fair and square for everyone."

"We should wait for Hezbollah's move now because it's their guy that is accused so they have to give him (hand him over) as a start in order to be safe and to rebuild this country in a correct way," he added.

Beirut - 18 August 2020

1. Various of Bahia Hariri, sister of Lebanon's late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, surrounded by Hariri's Future Movement party officials as they listen to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon verdict played on loudspeakers

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sami Fatfat, Future Movement official:

"I think it was a transparent (verdict) and everyone who accused the tribunal it was political, but it was not, because before he got convicted, Salim Hayyash, there were four and now he is the only convicted one, so I think it was fair and square for everyone, and we should wait for Hezbollah's move now because it's their guy that is accused so they have to give him (hand him over) as a start in order to be safe and to rebuild this country in a correct way."

3. Various of Bahia Hariri and Future Movement party officials praying in front of Rafik Hariri's grave

4. Wide of people standing at Hariri's grave

SHOTLIST:

01 March 2009

1. Wide of Beirut city skyline

2. Mid of Lebanese army Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) on road

3. Close of APC

4. Mid of traffic on Beirut city street

5. Various of newspapers

6. Wide of Al-Amin mosque

7. Close of mosque

8. Wide of people standing around murdered former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's grave

9. Mid of people reciting versus of the Quran at Hariri's grave

10. Mid of Hariri's grave with pictures of Hariri in background

11. Close of Hariri's picture

12. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Mohammad El-Sheikh, resident, vox pop:

"This tribunal will put an end to the killing, the criminal must be punished."

13. Mid of people standing around the grave

14. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Leila Fleifel, resident, vox pop:

"Lebanon will not be a place for living or for development if this tribunal is not effective."

15. Wide of traffic on city street

16. Mid of Lebanese army APC under bridge

FILE: 04 September 2000

17. Various of Hariri greeting people

FILE: 26 October 2000

18. Convoy of Hariri arriving at presidential palace after being elected Prime Minister

19. Hariri getting out of car and walking into presidential palace

20. Various of meeting between Hariri and then Lebanese President Emile Lahoud

21. Close of photographs of Hariri and his family

22. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rafik Hariri, former Lebanese Prime Minister:

"I believe we have to open the economy as much as we can, we have to overcome all the obstacles and try to make Lebanon as the commercial centre and financial centre for the middle east."

23. Close of Lebanese flag

24. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rafik Hariri, former Lebanese Prime Minister:

"You know, there's a consensus in Lebanon that Israel has to withdraw from all Lebanese territory. Anyway for me, I believe in peace and I believe that we have to do everything to achieve peace in the region."

25. Hariri talking mobile phone

STORYLINE:

An international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was starting work on Sunday at its headquarters in a village outside The Hague.

Despite the start of proceedings, it is still not known who will be accused in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 other people on a seaside street in Beirut on 14 February 2005.

Lebanese army forces in armoured personnel carriers were deployed on the streets of Beirut on Sunday to maintain calm.

Hundreds of Hariri supporters gathered peacefully around his grave in downtown Beirut, many expressing their support for the tribunal.

Mohammad El-Sheikh a resident in Beirut said whoever was responsible for the killing must be punished and he hoped the tribunal would achieve that.

While Leila Fleifel said Lebanon would not be a suitable place for living if the tribunal was not effective.

Four pro-Syrian generals are being held in Lebanese custody although none of them have been formally charged with Hariri's murder.

The generals led Lebanon's police, intelligence service and an elite army unit at the time of the assassination.

Court prosecutor Daniel Bellemare of Canada said he expects to request within weeks for Lebanon to transfer to the court the four generals.

As prime minister, Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was credited with rebuilding downtown Beirut after the 1975-90 civil war, and with trying to limit Syria's influence.

Many in Lebanon believe Syria was behind the assassination.

Syria has denied any involvement.

After the assassination, mass street protests in Lebanon and international pressure forced Syria to withdraw its troops from its neighbour after a 29-year presence.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon to investigate Hariri's killing was set up by the UN Security Council in 2007 and comprises both foreign and Lebanese judges.

It is based in the Netherlands to ensure the safety of staff and an impartial trial.

The judges have not yet been sworn in and the names of Lebanese judges have been withheld out of fears for their safety.

Some in Lebanon doubt the tribunal will ever bring out the full truth, believing it might avoid digging deep to ensure Syria does not react by stirring up trouble in Lebanon and other parts of the region.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on a trip through Africa, issued a statement praising Sunday's tribunal opening.

He said the commencement marked a "decisive milestone" in the efforts by all Lebanese and the international community to uncover the truth, and bring those responsible to justice.

The Hariri court is the latest international tribunal to be based in the Netherlands.

The Hague is home to the International Court of Justice, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal and the International Criminal Court.

Supporters of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut said Tuesday that they were not satisfied with the U.N.-backed tribunal verdict that convicted one member of the Hezbollah militant group and acquitted three others in the 2005 assassination of the former Prime Minister.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Salim Ayyash was guilty as a co-conspirator of five charges linked to his involvement in the suicide truck bombing.

However, after a years-long investigation and trial, three other Hezbollah members were acquitted of all charges that they also were involved in the killing of Hariri, which sent shock waves through the Mideast.

None of the suspects were ever arrested and were not in court to hear the verdicts.

The tribunal's judges also said there was no evidence that the leadership of the Hezbollah militant group and Syria were involved in the attack.

Hariri's son, Saad, himself a former Lebanese premier, said outside the court that the family accepts the verdicts.

Beirut –  18 August 2020  

1. Various of Hariri supporters gathering in Tareeq Al-Jadideh neighbourhood

2. Various of Hariri posters in Tareeq Al-Jadideh neighborhood

3. Traffic in Tareeq Al-Jadideh neighbourhood

4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Rabie Alkajk, Hariri supporter:

"Of course I am not satisfied with the verdict of the tribunal. This is a joke and we are not satisfied. We only believe in God and we don't believe in anyone else. All those who are on the ground are liars."

5. Various of traffic where former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Youssef Habal, Hariri supporter:

"We are not happy with the judgment of the international tribunal. It is known who killed Rafik Hariri and who took the decision and who carried out (the assassination) in Lebanon. This has been known for 15 years, since the first days after the assassination."

7. Various of Lebanese army vehicles driving

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.

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

++4:3++

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

SHOTLIST

1. Beirut city skyline

2. Mid of traffic

3. Wide of newspaper stand

4. Tilt down of newspaper headlines

5. Mid of the released Generals' pictures

6. Man reading newspaper

7. Newspaper headline reading (Arabic) "The release of the Generals: An end of a phase"

8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Samer Habib, resident:

"The decision was supposed to be taken in Lebanon as long as they were innocent; it was unfair to stay three years (in prison). They should look after the killers and punish them"

9. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Amer Takieddine, resident:

"I see it politically biased. Nobody knows anything. It is a mess. Nobody knows how they were arrested and how they were released."

10. Mid of traffic

11. Wide of Saad Hariri, son of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, meeting with Walid Jumblatt, head of National Democratic Gathering bloc

12. Close of Jumblatt

13. Close of Hariri

14. Hariri and Jumblatt walking towards podium

15. Cutaway cameraman

16. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic), Walid Jumblatt, head of National Democratic Gathering bloc:

"The most important thing we can do to execute the justice in the Hariri case is to go for the elections in one row and we will win the elections."

17. Mid of released General Jamil Al-Sayyed shaking hands with supporters

18. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Jamil Al-Sayyed, released General:

"I do not seek revenge and I do not have the hate feeling. Hate is for the weak in this life, but at the same time I was in charge in the State and I like accountability. If the judges who erred, the officers and the journalists who fed the false witnesses with information resign as a result of the court's decision then I consider being compensated. If they do not resign and if they will be fired by Saad Hariri then I will consider being compensated with his father (Rafik Hariri)"

19. Wide of hall

STORYLINE

One of four generals released after being held for nearly four years over the 2005 truck bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said on Thursday he did not seek revenge.

"I do not have the hate feeling. Hate is for the weak in this life," said former general security chief Major General Jamil Al-Sayyed, one of those freed.

Lebanon released them on orders from a UN-backed tribunal.

Their release from a Beirut prison left the international tribunal in the Netherlands with no suspects in custody after a four-year UN investigation into an assassination that triggered enormous political and sectarian turmoil in one of the Middle East's most volatile countries.

The tribunal's decision, after prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to justify their continued detention, could also have an immediate political impact.

Lebanon is heading into a crucial parliamentary election on 7 June that pits a pro-Western faction headed by Hariri's son Saad against an opposition dominated by the militant Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah.

Saad Hariri's faction is struggling to hold onto its legislative majority.

The opposition, which took up the cause of the four generals, could get a boost from their release.

The generals had been held since August 2005 for suspected involvement in the suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut in February of that year.

Tribunal judge Daniel Fransen demanded that Lebanese authorities protect the generals after he ordered their unconditional release and said they should no longer be considered suspects.

Fransen said a key witness had retracted a statement that initially incriminated the generals, undermining the case against them.

Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare said in court he would not appeal.

So far, Bellemare has not indicted anyone and has not identified any other suspects in the suicide bombing.

Hariri's assassination sparked mass protests that forced Syria's army out of the country after about three decades of political and military domination by Lebanon's neighbour.

As prime minister, Hariri, a (b) billionaire businessman, was credited with rebuilding downtown Beirut after the 1975-90 civil war and with trying to limit Syria's influence in the last months before his assassination.