SHOTLIST

31 May 2007

1. Various of street traffic in Beirut

2. Various of people offering sweets and flowers to passers by - a traditional celebration custom in Lebanon

3. Newspaper stand

4. Newspapers

5. Newspaper headline reading: (English) "UN approves Hariri court"

6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) No Name Given, Beirut Resident, Vox pop:

"We hope the international tribunal will be fair and seeking justice without a political agenda. And to put a stop to political assassinations."

7. People reading newspapers

8. Exterior of prime minister's office building

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ahmad Fatfat, Lebanese Youth and Sports Minister:

"We hope that this tribunal will put a final point for all political assassination in Lebanon but it needs the help and the support and the collaboration of the Syrian regime. We hope that they will do and if they will do it will be a new stage to a good relation, to restore the relation, between Lebanon and Syria. And also for Lebanese, for opposition in Lebanon, we say it will never be a political tool. It is really for all the Lebanese a victory and it will be to help Lebanon to consolidate its democracy and freedom."

10. Various of construction on road where Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated

11. Lebanese army forces providing security at site which has been closed since assassination

30 May 2007

12. Fireworks

13. People dancing in the streets

14. Car loaded with people chanting and waving flags

15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Saad Hariri, Son of the assassinated Prime minister Rafik Hariri:

"We are not demanding justice for the sake of revenge. We are demanding justice for the sake of accountability and for the sake of truth, which should be kept as a sacred trust in the conscience of all Lebanese. We should all participate in securing the International Tribunal to protect Lebanon."

16. Saad Hariri arriving at his father's grave

17. Mid shot of Saad Hariri praying at his father's grave

18. Wide of grave

STORYLINE

There was cautious optimism in Beirut on Thursday as supporters of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri welcomed the United Nations Security Council vote to unilaterally establish an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the slain leader's assassination.

"We hope the international tribunal will be fair and seeking justice without a political agenda. And to put a stop to political assassinations," said one Beirut resident.

Ahmad Fatfat, Lebanese Youth and Sports Minister welcomed the decision saying that he hoped the that the tribunal will put an end to all political assassination in Lebanon.

"But it needs the help and the support and the collaboration of the Syrian regime." he said, adding that if Syria chooses to cooperate with the tribunal "it will be a new stage to a good relation, to restore the relation, between Lebanon and Syria."

The slain leader's supporters danced in the streets on Wednesday following the announcement of the Un decision and his son, Saad Hariri, said the resolution was a turning point in Lebanon that would protect the country from further assassinations.

"We are not demanding justice for the sake of revenge. We are demanding justice for the sake of accountability and for the sake of truth, which should be kept as a sacred trust in the conscience of all Lebanese. We should all participate in securing the International Tribunal to protect Lebanon," Hariri said.

The vote on the resolution was 10-0 with five abstentions - Russia, China, South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar.

That was one more than the nine votes needed for passage.

The five countries that abstained objected to establishing the tribunal without approval of Lebanon's parliament and to putting the resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter which deals with threats to international peace and allows militarily enforcement.

But none opposed the tribunal itself.

A UN investigation has implicated Syria in Hariri's assassination in 2005 when the Syrian army controlled Lebanon.

Syria has denied involvement.

The issue of an international tribunal has since fuelled a deep political conflict between Saniora's Western-backed government and the Syrian-backed, Hezbollah-led opposition.

The conflict has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone and erupted into street battles, killing 11 people in recent months.

Hariri's assassination sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Syria denied involvement but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year presence.

The initial UN investigator said the complexity of Hariri's assassination suggested the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role, but the probe is continuing.

Four Lebanese generals, top pro-Syrian security chiefs, have been under arrest for 20 months, accused of involvement in Hariri's murder.

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. Arrival of convoy with Alexander Sultanov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister

2. Sultanov walking with officials

3. Pan from cameramen and photographers to Sultanov and Fawzi Salloukh, former Lebanese Foreign Minister

4. Mid of Sultanov

5. Mid of Salloukh

6. Wide of meeting

7. Cutaway cameramen

8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic), Alexander Sultanov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister:

"We discussed the international tribunal and other internal affairs. We agreed on the continuation of national dialogue, a dialogue of all the problems in Lebanon, because dialogue is the only way to save the national consensus and unity."

9. Cameramen

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fawzi Salloukh, former Lebanese Foreign Minister:

"Russia will take all necessary action to help and support in finding a solution to the problem."

11. Convoy leaving

12. Presidential palace

13. Sultanov at meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud

14. Mid of Lahoud

15. Mid of Sultanov

16. Exterior, Prime Minister's office building

17. Lebanese flag

18. Various of meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora

19. Exterior of Ein El-Tineh Palace

20. Various of meeting with parliament speaker, Nabih Berri

STORYLINE:

Envoys from Russia and the UN were involved in Beirut on Tuesday in what may be a last-ditch attempt to win approval from Lebanon's opposing camps for an international tribunal into the assassination of Lebanon's prime minister, Rafik Hariri, a subject that's divided Lebanese opinion and which threatens the country's stability.

The parliament has put off approving a draft agreement with the United Nations, paralyzed by a political crisis between the government, which wants a multi-national tribunal to prosecute suspects in the 2005 assassination, and the Hezbollah-led opposition, which wants more discussion first.

The Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and the parliamentary majority have asked the United Nations to impose the Hariri tribunal and bypass the Lebanese legislature but opposition leaders have warned that such intervention could spell more trouble for the country.

Clashes over the issue have already caused nine deaths.

Opposition campaigners have been camping outside Saniora's office since December, 2006, paralyzing large parts of the capital's commercial district to demand his resignation but Saniora has refused to step down.

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexander Sultanov arrived for talks in Beirut with various Lebanese officials and the former Lebanese foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh.

Sultanov said that Russia was eager to help find a compromise, not impose a solution, stressing that the Lebanese need to find consensus through dialogue.

"We discussed the international tribunal," he said. "We agreed upon the continuation of the national dialogue, a dialogue of all the problems in Lebanon, because dialogue is the only way to save the national consensus and unity."

Fawzi Salloukh, who resigned as Lebanon's foreign minister, said that Russia would do what is necessary to help and support in finding a solution to the problem.

Russia, with a veto on UN Security Council resolutions, has enjoyed good relations with Lebanon and Syria, which has been widely accused of involvement in the assassination.

Sultanov also met with Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. He is then expected to travel to Syria, which remains an important player despite the withdrawal of its army from Lebanon in the wake of Hariri's assassination.

Along with Sultanov, the top UN legal chief Nicolas Michel was flying in later Tuesday to Beirut to help overcome the impasse.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is scheduled to visit Syria next week, after a trip to Lebanon in March.

The anti-Syrian majority in Parliament blames Damascus for killing Hariri, an accusation Syria vehemently denies, and say the Syrians were using their Lebanese allies to undermine the formation of the tribunal.

SHOTLIST

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Exterior shot of Prime Minister's office in Beirut

2. Mid shot of Lebanese soldiers and armoured vehicle in position around Prime Minister's office

3. Mid shot of Lebanese soldiers

4. Wide shot of Lebanese soldiers and armoured vehicle

5. Wide shot of Prime Minister's office

6. Wide shot of Lebanese cabinet meeting

7. Mid shot of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sitting at head of meeting

8. Mid shot of picture of murdered Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel placed in his position around meeting table

9. Various of cabinet ministers around table

10. Mid shot of picture of murdered Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel

11. Cameras

12. Mid shot of Lebanese Minister of Information, Ghazi Aridi, at press conference

13. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ghazi Aridi, Lebanese Minister of Information:

"(The cabinet) approved the creation of an international tribunal between Lebanon and the United Nations and authorised the Justice Minister to sign this agreement with the United Nations and also to send this approval to the Lebanese Parliament for authorisation.''

14. Cameras

STORYLINE

The Lebanese government on Saturday approved an international tribunal for suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, despite warnings of mass protests by its opponent Hezbollah.

Last-ditch attempts to reach a compromise between the government and the pro-Syrian camp, led by Hezbollah, appeared to fail as the cabinet moved forward with its meeting for a UN created court.

The tribunal is a key bone of contention in the power struggle between allies and opponents of Syria in Lebanon.

Anti-Syrian forces - mainly Christian and Sunni Muslim - dominate the government, but are facing a campaign by the mainly Shiite pro-Syrian camp to bring the government down.

The political crisis became potentially explosive this week with the assassination of an anti-Syrian politician, raising worries of more violence that could tear apart the country's fragile sectarian seams.

The anti-Syrian bloc brought out some 800,000 people for a mass rally at the funeral of the politician, Pierre Gemayel, on Thursday.

Hezbollah has shown it can bring out similar numbers for its protests - and if it goes ahead with its threatened demonstrations, many fear it could start a spiral of street action.

Earlier on Saturday, two key anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah and a Syria supporter, in an apparent attempt to find a compromise.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora offered to put off the contentious Cabinet vote for several days if six pro-Hezbollah ministers who quit the government earlier this month returned.

Hezbollah demands that the government be changed to give it and its allies more power, or else it says it will launch mass protests to topple Saniora.

But the reconciliation bid appeared to have failed, and the Cabinet meeting approved a UN draft for the tribunal.

In the eyes of Hezbollah, the approval of the tribunal amounts to a rejection of its demands for a greater representation in the Cabinet.

The Shiite militant group and Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, have denounced the current government as unconstitutional, because the constitution underlines that the government must represent all of Lebanon's main communities.

"(The cabinet) approved the creation of an international tribunal between Lebanon and the United Nations and authorised the Justice Minister to sign this agreement with the United Nations and also to send this approval to the Lebanese Parliament for authorisation,'' Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after the vote.

Aridi's statement went on to say that Prime Minister Saniora insisted the approval of the tribunal was not meant as a provocation against Hezbollah and its allies.

For opponents of Syria, the court is a major priority, and they hope it will uncover the truth behind the February 2005 assassination of Hariri in a massive bomb blast that killed 22 others, which they accuse Damascus of orchestrating. Syria has denied any role in the killing.

The court, which will sit outside Lebanon and have a majority of non-Lebanese judges, is to try four Lebanese generals - top pro-Syrian security chiefs under Lahoud including his Presidential Guard commander, who have been under arrest for 14 months, accused of involvement in

Hariri's murder.

The UN investigation into Hariri's death has also implicated Brigadier General Assaf Shawkat, Syria's military intelligence chief and the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Assad. But Shawkat is not in custody.

Hariri's death was the first in a string of attacks that killed five other prominent anti-Syrian figures - with Gemayel the most recent, in a bold daytime shooting on Tuesday.

Many Lebanese blame Syria in all the killings, which Damascus denies.

Since Gemayel's assassination, some ministers in Saniora's Cabinet have moved into the heavily guarded prime minister's building in downtown Beirut, fearing more slayings.

SHOTLIST:

1. Exterior of Lebanese prime minister's office

2. Various of Lebanese army surrounding Prime Minister's office

3. Wide of Lebanese cabinet meeting headed by Saniora

4. Mid shot of Saniora at head of cabinet meeting

5. Mid shot photo of Pierre Gemayel, assassinated industry minister

6. Various of cabinet meeting

7. Close of photo of Pierre Gemayel

8. Cabinet meeting members standing for one minute of silence to pay their respects to Gemayel

STORYLINE:

Lebanon's US-backed government on Saturday approved the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of a former prime minister despite objections by Hezbollah and the country's pro-Syrian president.

The move is likely to further deepen the country's political crisis and spark the mass street demonstrations already threatened by Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its allies to topple the government of prime minister Fuad Saniora.

On Friday, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri had issued a statement demanding a veto wielding share of the cabinet.

Earlier this month six pro-Hezbollah government ministers resigned while, this week, the Christian industry minister Pierre Gemayel was assassinated.

Fuad Saniora, the Lebanese prime minister, said Saturday he was willing to postpone the cabinet meeting to approve the tribunal "for a few days" if the six ministers would return to the government.

The meeting went ahead as scheduled.

An ongoing UN investigation into the February 2005 truck bombing that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others has said the killing's complexity suggests the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in the assassination.

Damascus has denied having any role in the killing but, having dominated Lebanon for nearly three decades, was forced to withdraw its troops.

The power struggle since, between rival factions, intensified earlier this year as a result of a 34-day war waged by Hezbollah against Israel.

In October, Nasrallah began threatening mass protests unless Hezbollah's demand for a national unity government was met.

Now, in the wake of Gemayel's assassination earlier this week, some cabinet ministers are taking shelter in government headquarters in downtown Beirut.

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.

SHOTLIST:

Beirut

1. Various of city

2. Lebanese army military vehicle in Beirut street

3. Lebanese army soldier

4. Newspaper stand

5. Man reading newspaper

6. Close-up newspaper headline: "Government approve international tribunal''

7. Various of newspaper stand

8. People walking in street

9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Voxpop (no name given):

"No, I am not for an international tribunal because it is coming from an unconstitutional government that is not representing all sects. If it was representing all Lebanese than maybe I will agree to tribunal.''

10. Women sitting on seaside

11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Voxpop (no name given):

"I am for an international tribunal to find out who assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri and all who have been assassinated and for justice to arrive.''

12. Lebanese Health Minister Mohamed Gawad Khalifa (just resigned) coming down stairs

13. SOUNDBITE (English): Mohamed Gawad Khalifa, recently resigned Lebanese Health Minister:

"It went like a provocative issue, provocative thing and specially at a time when the President and the speaker - two main pillars in the country - again in addition to the Prime Minister, definitely without doubt saying that what is coming from this government is unconstitutional.''

14. Exterior of church in Beirut

15. Various of service in Beirut church

Bekfaya

16. Various of people paying condolences to the Gemayal family

STORYLINE:

Lebanon's US-backed government Saturday approved an international tribunal for suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, despite warnings of mass protests by its opponent Hezbollah.

Last-ditch attempts to reach a compromise between the government and the pro-Syrian camp, led by Hezbollah, failed as the Cabinet moved forward with its meeting on the UN-created court.

US-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora had offered to put off the contentious Cabinet vote for several days if six pro-Hezbollah ministers who quit the government earlier this month returned.

Hezbollah demands that the government be changed to give it and its allies more power, or else it will launch mass protests to topple Saniora.

People on the streets of Beirut were divided in their opinion following the announcement.

One person said "No, I am not for an international tribunal because it is coming from an unconstitutional government that is not representing all sects. If it was representing all Lebanese than maybe I will agree to tribunal.''

Another's view was that "I am for an international tribunal to find out who assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri and all who have been assassinated and for justice to arrive.''

Hezbollah and Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, denounced the Cabinet's approval of the tribunal.

Lahoud called the approval "null and void," according to a statement from his office.

But former Lebanese Health Minister Mohamed Gawad Khalifa - who has only recently resigned from his post - said he thought the issue was a controversial one.

People continued to pay their condolences to the family of slain Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel in the town of Bekfaya.

Gemayel's assassination on Tuesday was the most recent in a string of attacks that have killed five other prominent anti-Syrian figures.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide of funeral

2. Wife of Walid Eido, assassinated legislator, waving from balcony

3. Women crying and waving

4. Ambulance covered by Lebanese flag and poster of Eido

5. Youths chanting slogans whilst travelling with ambulance

6. Wide of funeral

7. Mid of Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, the assassinated former Lebanese prime minister, walking along in procession

8. Wide of funeral procession

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Walid Jumblatt, Druse politician:

"Syrian regime with their allies are trying to reduce our majority in the parliament. They have killed yesterday a prominent member of parliament. They can kill three more, if they kill three more members we will lose the majority and this is their calculation so that the government of Saniora will fall down."

10. Mid of Hezbollah MP bloc's flag

11. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Hussein Hajj Hassan, Hezbollah MP:

"We condemn the terror act which led to the killing of legislator Walid Eido, his son, two of his bodyguards and several Lebanese citizens. And we think that these crimes are taking place and are synchronised by the political exposure in the country. We think that the politicians are invited to find a political solution to the crisis in order to deal with all the disputed issues, as well as dealing with the security exposure. Some intelligence parties are getting benefits and committing these acts of terror and committing seditious acts against the Lebanese."

12. Tilt down of Al-Khachekji Mosque, mourners, security

13. Wide of funeral procession, coffin being carried

14. Various mid shots of coffins being carried to mosque

15. Top shot of three coffins inside the mosque (containing bodies of Walid Eido, his son, and one of the bodyguards killed)

16. Relatives kissing a coffin

17. Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc, in parliament arriving at the mosque

18. Worshippers praying at funeral

19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament:

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened. I tell the criminals: you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

20. Body being lowered into grave

21. Eido's son crying

22. Another body being lowered into grave

23. Wide pan of cemetery

STORYLINE:

Tens of thousands of mourners bade farewell on Thursday to victims of a powerful car bombing in Beirut that killed a prominent anti-Syrian legislator and nine others as the Lebanese government - reeling from another blow targeting its supporters - sought international help.

A bomb ripped through Walid Eido's car on Wednesday as he drove from a seaside sports club, also killing his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.

Thursday's funeral procession swelled to tens of thousands of mourners who escorted coffins carrying the bodies of Eido, his son and one of the bodyguards killed.

The mourners followed ambulances covered with Lebanese flags that drove from the American University Hospital in West Beirut to a mosque at the Shohada Cemetery several kilometres (miles) away for a prayer service and internment.

It drove down the main thoroughfare of Corniche Mazraa in the Muslim sector of the capital, where pictures of the assassinated politicians were posted on walls and overpasses and Eido's widow waved to the crowds from a balcony.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament to which Eido belonged, Druse politician Walid Jumblatt and other prominent anti-Syrian leaders also marched in the procession.

Jumblatt, an anti-Syrian MP, said that if the Syrian regime killed three more MPs, "we will lose the majority and this is their calculation so that the government of Saniora will fall down."

One Hezbollah MP, whose party is pro-Syrian, also condemned the killings.

"Some intelligence parties are getting benefits and committing these acts of terror and acting seditiously against the Lebanese," Hussein Hajj Hassan said.

At the Al-Khachekji mosque, male relatives sobbed and bent to kiss the coffins laid next to one another.

The spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, led the prayers, with Saad Hariri, son of assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri, at his side.

Saad Hariri said Lebanon would not kneel before the killers and promised they would be brought to justice.

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened," he said. "I tell the criminals, you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers and the international community to assist in the investigation of Eido's assassination.

The blast that killed Eido was a new blow to the stability of an already conflict-torn nation.

It came just three days after the government, together with the United Nations, started putting together an international tribunal ordered by the UN Security Council to try suspects in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut two years ago - a move strongly opposed by Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

Eido was a prominent supporter of the tribunal, a staunch follower of Hariri and the seventh anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in the past two years.

Many in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind the killings, a claim Damascus denies.

Lebanon's majority coalition blamed Syria for Wednesday's assassination.

Syria controlled Lebanon for 29 years until it was forced out after Hariri's assassination, and its Lebanese opponents believe it is seeking to regain domination by plunging the country into chaos.

Businesses, schools and government offices were closed on Thursday after the government declared a day of national mourning.

The killings were likely to further enflame Lebanon's bitter power struggle between Saniora's Western-backed government and its Syrian-backed opponents, led by the Hezbollah militant group.

As the fighting in the north, pitting the Lebanese Army against Palestinian militants, with Palestinian refugees under siege, continues, many fear the violence there and in Beirut could push the polarised nation, with a fragile balance of ethnic and religious groups, into a new civil war.

SHOTLIST:

1. Tilt down of Al-Khachekji Mosque, mourners, security

2. Wide of funeral procession, coffin being carried

3. Various mid shots of coffins being carried to mosque

4. Top shot of three coffins inside the mosque (containing bodies of Walid Eido, his son, and one of the bodyguards killed)

5. Relatives kissing a coffin

6. Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc, in parliament arriving at the mosque

7. Various of worshippers praying at funeral

8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament:

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened. I tell the criminals: you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

9. Body being lowered into grave

10. Eido's son crying

11. Another body being lowered into grave

12. Wide pan of cemetery

STORYLINE:

Tens of thousands of mourners bade farewell on Thursday to victims of a powerful car bombing in Beirut that killed a prominent anti-Syrian legislator and nine others as the Lebanese government - reeling from another blow targeting its supporters - sought international help.

A bomb ripped through Walid Eido's car on Wednesday as he drove from a seaside sports club, also killing his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.

Thursday's funeral procession swelled to tens of thousands of mourners who escorted coffins carrying the bodies of Eido, his son and one of the bodyguards killed.

The mourners followed ambulances covered with Lebanese flags that drove from the American University Hospital in West Beirut to a mosque at the Shohada Cemetery several kilometers away for a prayer service and internment.

At the mosque, male relatives sobbed and bent to kiss the coffins laid next to one another.

The spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, led the prayers, with Saad Hariri, son of assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri, at his side.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament to which Eido belonged, said Lebanon would not kneel before the killers and promised they would be brought to justice.

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened," he said. "I tell the criminals, you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers and the international community to assist in the investigation of Eido's assassination.

The blast that killed Eido was a new blow to the stability of this conflict-torn nation.

It came just three days after the government, together with the United Nations, started putting together an international tribunal ordered by the U.N. Security Council to try suspects in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut two years ago - a move strongly opposed by Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

Eido was a prominent supporter of the tribunal, a staunch follower of Hariri and the seventh anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in the past two years.

Many in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind the killings, a claim Damascus denies.

Lebanon's majority coalition blamed Syria for Wednesday's assassination.

Syria controlled Lebanon for 29 years until it was forced out after Hariri's assassination, and its Lebanese opponents believe it is seeking to regain domination by plunging the country into chaos.

SHOTLIST

1. Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani descending steps of plane, welcomed by Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri

2. Hariri and Al Thani walking away

3. Various of Hariri meeting Al Thani

4. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Lebanese counterpart Ali Chami walking

5. Wide of Photo op with Chami, Al Thani, Hariri and Davutoglu

6. Hariri and Davutoglu shaking hands

7. Exterior of the presidential palace

8. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman walking with Davutoglu and Al Thani

9. Cutaway photographer

10. Wide of meeting between president and Qatar and Turkey ministers

11. Pan of meeting

12. Mid of Davutoglu

13. Mid of Al Thani

14. Mid of Suleiman

STORYLINE

Qatar's prime minister and Turkey's foreign minister arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday in a coordinated visit to discuss the deepening political crisis in the country.

Ahmet Davutoglu and Qatar's Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, a member of the gulf emirate's royal family, met Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Saad Hariri and president Michel Suleiman.

Davutoglu's trip to Beirut came a day after he held consultations with Iran's new acting Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Ankara.

Lebanon's political crisis came to a head last week when the Shiite militant Hezbollah movement toppled the Western-backed government in a dispute over the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Saad Hariri - the son of the slain leader - refused Hezbollah's demands to renounce the court, prompting 11 Hezbollah ministers and their allies to resign last Wednesday.

The move brought down the unity government and further polarised the country's rival factions: Hezbollah with its patrons in Syria and Iran on one side and Hariri's Western-backed bloc on the other, with support by the US and Saudi Arabia.

Many fear the crisis could lead to street protests and the kind of violence that has bedevilled the tiny Arab country of four (M) million people for years, including a devastating 1975-1990 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.

The UN tribunal late on Monday filed a long-awaited indictment in the Hariri killing.

The indictment was sealed and its contents will likely not become public for weeks.

But the court is widely expected to accuse members of Hezbollah of being involved in the murder, something the Shiite militant group has insisted it will not accept.

Hezbollah fiercely denies any role in the assassination and says the tribunal, jointly funded by UN member states and Lebanon, is a conspiracy by Israel and the United States.

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.

SHOTLIST:

1. Pan on downtown Beirut with Al Amine mosque in the background

2. Crowd gathering at the Martyrs' square

3. Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri poster with electronic sign reading "365"

4. Arrival of MP Bahia Hariri, sister of Rafik Hariri, at his grave

5. Bahia Hariri praying

6. Close-up of big poster for Rafik Hariri

7. Bahia Hariri leaving the anniversary ceremony marking Hariri's assassination

8. Thousands gathered in crowded square

9. Various of crowd waving Lebanese flags and anti-Syrian banners

10. Mid shot of banner: "Kick out Bashar's agent from Baabda" (referring Syrian President Bashar Assad and to Lebanese president Emile Lahoud)

11. Wide shot of Al Amine mosque

12. Mid shot of crowd

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ghazi Aridi, Information minister:

"It will be the international tribunal and the truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community."

14. Mid shot of soldiers

15. Various of crowd

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese waving flags, some carrying anti-Syrian banners, massed in Martyr's square in Beirut on Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

The gathering answered a call by groups opposed to Syrian involvement in lebanon aiming to show their popular strength amid deep political divisions.

Syria's troops left Lebanon in April under international pressure after nearly 30 years, and a UN probe into Hariri's murder has already implicated top Syrian and allied Lebanese security officials. Damasmcus refutes any involvement.

Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia Hariri prayed at his graveside next to the square.

Outside some demonstrators carried signs calling for "The Truth" and shouted the name of Hariri's son and political heir, Saad Hariri, whilst others carried placards critical of Syria and its president, Bashar Assad.

Thousands of troops and policemen, backed by armoured vehicles, sealed off Beirut's downtown area to provide security and guarded approaches to the city.

The government gave schools the day off and businesses closed.

The demonstration was expected to climax shortly after midday - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown seaside street as his motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

The main pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim groups, Hezbollah and Amal, were not taking part in the demonstration, which was expected to be largely dominated by Sunni Muslims from Hariri's sect and by Christian and Druse allies.

Amal is holding its own commemoration later Tuesday in southern Lebanon. Amal and Hezbollah, who are represented in the Cabinet, have been locked in a power struggle with the government's majority led by the Saad Hariri bloc.

The groups leading Tuesday's rallies in Beirut are looking for a repetition of a March 14 protest in which about one (m) million flag-waving Lebanese converged on Martyrs' Square to demand the Syrian army leave Lebanon.

The groups have continued to accuse Syria of interfering in Lebanese affairs and carrying out a campaign of bombings and assassinations in the last year that has killed other 11 people, including three prominent anti-Syrians.

Damascus has also denied involvement in these attacks.

Before the troop pullout, Syria had dominated Lebanon with its army and security services for nearly three decades, first entering in 1976 to quell a fratricidal civil war that did not end until 1990.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide of area were bomb blast happened

2. Mid of men looking at the remains of a car

3. Cordon next to remains of a vehicle

4. People inspecting damage

5. Dented parked cars along the road

6. Mangled vehicles

7. Pan of damage

8.Damaged building

9. People looking at damage

10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Elie Roukoz, Beirut Resident:

" As you see the whole buildings are damaged, we felt that the ground is shaking up and down."

11. Cars along street in Beirut

12. Various of man reading paper

13. Pan of papers on the news stand

14. Mid of front page reading (ENGLISH) " MP Antoine Ghamen assassinated"

15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samer Mrad, Beirut Resident

" We want to see and to know the hands behind such acts and who has the interest. This is only affecting the poor and miserable people."

16. Lebanese security forces convoy along street

17. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Lebanese lawmaker heading the main anti-Syrian alliance in Parliament:

"The presidency does not belong to Saad Hariri, or to Hassan Nasrallah, or to Nabih Berri, or to Michel Aoun, or to any other party. The presidency belongs to the people of Lebanon."

18. Cutaway

19. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Lebanese lawmaker heading the main anti-Syrian alliance in Parliament:

"The International Tribunal, which will try those cowardly criminal killers, will also try those who sabotage the presidential elections."

20. Various of locked up shops

STORYLINE

Lebanese leaders pledged on Thursday to press ahead with a divisive election for president, to be held in Parliament in coming days, despite the car bombing assassination of an anti-Syrian lawmaker.

Wednesday's bomb killed Antoine Ghanem, an anti-Syria lawmaker, and six others in a Christian neighbourhood of Beirut and threatened to derail efforts to bring the country's rival parties together to agree on a head of state ahead of time, before voting is set to begin next week.

Investigators were at the sight examining the remains of the blast.

At least 67 were wounded in the explosion, which severely damaged buildings and set cars ablaze during rush hour on a busy street in the Sin el-Fil neighbourhood.

Ghanem, 64, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange party, had returned from refuge abroad only two days earlier. He was the eighth anti-Syria figure and fourth governing coalition lawmaker to be assassinated in less than three years.

On Thursday Lebanese newspapers were focused entirely on the assassination.

Samer Mrad a Beirut resident said he wants to know who is behind the attack.

" We want to see and to know that hands behind such acts and who has the interest. This is only affecting the poor and miserable people," he said.

Coalition members blamed Syria for the death, but Damascus denied involvement, as it has for the previous seven assassinations, including the 2005 bombing death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora asked the United Nations secretary-general in a letter to add the Ghanem assassination to an international probe into Hariri's slaying and other political crimes in Lebanon.

On Wednesday Hariri's son, who now heads the main anti-Syrian alliance in the Lebanese parliament, called the perpetrators of the attack "cowardly criminal killers".

"The presidency does not belong to Saad Hariri, or to Hassan Nasrallah, or to Nabih Berri, or to Michel Aoun, or to any other party. The presidency belongs to the people of Lebanon," Saad Hariri said.

Many people fear the divisions over the presidency could lead to creation of two rival governments, a grim threat to repeat the last two years of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war when army units loyal to competing administrations battled it out.

President Emile Lahoud, an ally of Syria, is due to step down from the presidency by November 23 and government supporters see the vote as the opportunity to put one of their own in the post.

But Hezbollah and its allies have vowed to block any candidate they do not approve and they can do so by boycotting the ballots, preventing the needed two-thirds quorum of 85 votes.

If no candidate is agreed on by the time Lahoud steps down, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and his cabinet would automatically take on executive powers.

If that happens, opposition supporters have said Lahoud might appoint a second government, a step many fear would break up the country.

Schools, universities and many businesses in Christian areas of Beirut, plus in the Mount Lebanon region north of the capital, closed on Thursday in a day of mourning and to observe a strike called by the Phalange Party.

A funeral was to be held Friday.

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 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut’s port.

Leidschendam - 18 August 2020

1. Various of arrivals at trial of people charged in truck bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

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

LEAD IN:

Lebanon's former prime minister Saad Hariri on Monday commemorated the 17th anniversary of his father's killing, with hundreds of supporters gathering in downtown Beirut.

STORY-LINE:

Lebanon's former prime minister Saad Hariri, and current premier Najib Mikati, commemorated Monday the 17th anniversary of Rafik Hariri's assassination by visiting his grave.

The anniversary this year came a few weeks after Hariri announced he was leaving politics and would not run in upcoming parliamentary elections.

The decision marked the first time in three decades the powerful Sunni family is out of politics, adding uncertainty in a country grappling with a financial meltdown.

In the early afternoon, Hariri visited the grave of his father, Rafik Hariri, in downtown Beirut, then waved to hundreds of supporters who gathered at the scene before leaving without making any statement.

Over the past years, the anniversary used to be commemorated with a huge ceremony in which Hariri and other allied politicians gave speeches.

Hariri, a three-time prime minister and current member of parliament, inherited the political leadership from his late father, a billionaire businessman, who was one of Lebanon's most powerful and influential politicians after the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

The late Hariri was assassinated in a massive suicide truck bomb on Beirut's seafront on Feb. 14, 2005.

The huge blast killed Hariri and 21 others and injured 226.

In December 2020, a U.N.-backed tribunal sentenced a member of the Hezbollah militant group to life imprisonment for his involvement in the 2005 assassination.

Hezbollah has denied the charges.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Beirut - 14 February 2022

1. Convoy of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Saad Hariri arriving

2. Wide of Hariri supporters gathering, holding poster of him

3. Hariri walking towards grave of his late father Rafik Hariri

4. Bahia Hariri (center), sister of Rafik Hariri, and Saad Hariri praying in front of grave

5. Hariri leaving

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic)  Bassam Mawlawi, Lebanese interior minister:

"Lebanon is passing through a difficult period that may be even more difficult than the previous anniversaries commemorating premier Hariri's martyrdom. We confirm at the anniversary the project of premier Hariri who lived, sacrificed and became a martyr for the building of the state. We insist today more than any time ever on our march and message, which was the message of premier Hariri, of building the state."

7. Mid of security

8. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati walking

9. Various of Mikati standing at Hariri's grave

10. Close of Hariri's grave

11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamad Nimer, journalist and analyst:

"It is clear today that all the supporters of Hariri came spontaneously to express two things. First is the loyalty to this movement, to the movement of the martyred premier Rafik Hariri. The second is the gathering around premier Saad Hariri, who during the past 17 years was able to delay the repercussions of this assassination, because Lebanon was assassinated in 2005."

12. Hariri supporters holding flags

13. Wide of Rafik Hariri poster

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."

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."

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

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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