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."

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."

LEBANON REVIEW 2014

SOURCE: AP TELEVISION/POOL/FUTURE TV

RESTRICTIONS: MIDDLE EAST EXTRA CLIENTS ONLY/NO ACCESS

LENGTH: 7.06

SHOTLIST:

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 2 January 2014

++16:9++

1. Various of people crowding round the site of car bomb

2. Wide of the crowd being held back by police

3. Mid of soldiers arriving at the scene

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 16 January 2014

++16:9++

4. Wide of people removing piece of cloth covering a billboard featuring image of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, words reading: (Arabic) "Time for Justice"

5. Close-up of digital clock showing number '1', counting the number of days the trial will take

6. Tilt-down from billboard to people gathered around sign

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 14 February 2005

++4:3++

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

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 8 March 2014

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8. Various of women marching

9. Mid of women holding posters outside the Lebanese parliament

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 6 April 2014

++16:9++

10. Wide of Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam arriving at the Grand Serail

11. High shot of Salam and relatives sitting down and surrounded by the media

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tammam Salam, Lebanese Prime Minister:

"I am sure we will be able to put matters in the right perspective taking into consideration what our people, what the Lebanese, are looking forward to."

AP Television

Tripoli, Lebanon - 3 April 2014

++16:9++

13. Pan across Syrian refugees at UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) registration centre

14. Tilt-up from Syrian refugee child Omar to his mother Bushra, who is the one millionth Syrian refugee to be registered in the region

15. Bushra and her children accompanied by UNHCR employee

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 12 November 2014

++16:9++

++AUDIO AS INCOMING++

16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maha Yahya, Carnegie Centre for Middle Eastern Studies:

"The challenge today is waking up to the realisation that this is a very protracted conflict. It's not going to end tomorrow. It's going to take some time. We don't know how long, but there is a large number of people who are not going home soon."

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 23 April 2014

++16:9++

17. Pan of lawmaker and former army commander, Michel Aoun, arriving at parliament

18. Pan of lawmaker and former Prime Minister, Fouad Saniora (right) arriving

19. Pan of presidential candidate Henry Helou (left) and lawmaker Akram Shohayeb arriving

Pool

Beirut, Lebanon - 23 April 2014

++4:3++

20. Various of lawmakers counting votes

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 19 November 2014

++16:9++

21. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sami Nader, Middle East affairs analyst and Professor at Saint Joseph University, Beirut:

"The Lebanese missed the opportunity to elect a president 'Made In Lebanon' by May 25. After this, the problem now to get a solution you need kind of a regional consensus. You need a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, mainly. And this deal doesn't seem in (on) the horizon yet."

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 20 June 2014

++16:9++

22. Wide of police standing outside the hotel in Hamra where suspects were arrested

23. Wide shot of the area where the suspects where arrested

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 25 June 2014

++16:9++

24. Close-up of hotel room where a suicide bomber detonated his vest in the Savoy Hotel in Raouche, Beirut

25. Wide of first responders

26. Wide of tourists leaving the hotel on foot and answering questions from reporters

AP Television

Arsal, Lebanon - 6 August 2014

++16:9++

27. Wide of smoke rising in mountain area above Arsal

28. Close-up shot of smoke rising

29. Various of army tanks pulling into Arsal

30. Various of ambulances driving into Arsal

31. Wide of soldiers riding in armoured vehicles

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 19 November 2014

++16:9++

32. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sami Nader, Middle East affairs analyst and Professor at Saint Joseph University, Beirut:

"This Arsal war showed how fragile is the situation in Lebanon. How the borders are not really controlled. And how much capabilities and support the Lebanese army need."

AP Television

Fnaydek, Lebanon - 3 September 2014

++16:9++

33. Various of crowd carrying the coffin containing body of Lebanese soldier Sergeant Ali Sayid, moving towards mosque, AUDIO: gun fire

34. Poster showing Sayid

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 19 November 2014

++16:9++

35. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sami Nader, Middle East affairs analyst and Professor at Saint Joseph University, Beirut:

"The Lebanese army in a way was victim. Yes, the Lebanese army was isolated. It's the only remaining Lebanese institution. One has to keep in mind that we don't have a president, there is a void at the level of the presidency, the parliament is practically freezed, all what they have achieved is to prolong their own mandate, to extend their own mandate and the Lebanese government is really in a very fragile situation."

Future TV - No Access Lebanon

Tripoli, Lebanon - September 2014

++16:9++

36. Wide of people waving Islamic State flags

37. Mid of Sheikh Khaled Hoblos speaking to the crowd

AP Television

Tripoli, Lebanon - 26 October 2014

++16:9++

38. Wide of soldiers running

39. Wide shot of soldiers firing weapons

40. Various of families being evacuated

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 20 November 2014

++16:9++

41. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nadim Houry, Human Rights Watch:

"There is a lot of speculation today about ISIS' strength in Lebanon. But at this stage there is no indication that ISIS is going to seep through Tripoli tomorrow and control the city. Quite the contrary. I mean we saw that the army was actually able to beat back many of these groups and that actually many of these groups, while they may be Islamist, are not necessarily affiliated with ISIS."

AP Television

Brital, Lebanon - 10 September 2014

++16:9++

42. Various of Syrian tents burnt to the ground

43. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Khaled Darwish, 11-year-old Syrian refugee:

"When we returned, we found that the tents were all burnt and black and I found all my toys burnt. Everything was burnt. Even my bicycle was burnt. All my toys and my ball."

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 15 December 2014

44. High shot of Wahda al-Sayyed, wife of kidnapped soldier Khaled Moqbel, pouring gasoline on tyres in street

45. Police trying to move al-Sayyed away, but she throws lighted paper to set tyres on fire

46. Wide of tyres burning

47. Soldier guarding the scene

48. Pan right of pictures of captured soldiers and police officers on a billboard

49. Wide of photos next to tents where relatives of the kidnapped are protesting

AP Television

Beirut, Lebanon - 26 November 2014

++16:9++

50. Wide of memorial to mark the death of Lebanese singer Sabah

51. Close-up of photograph of Sabah

52. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Lina Fghali Maalouf, Relative of Sabah:

"The people have lost a column from Baalbek's ancient ruins."

53. Mid of friends hugging in grief

54. Pull focus of decoration

LEADIN:

2014 has been a tumultuous year for Lebanon, as Syria's civil war continued to spill over into the country.

From managing one million refugees, to suicide bombings and clashes between government forces and Islamic militants, the past year has been a challenging one.

STORYLINE:

January 2nd, just two days into the new year and a deadly car bomb shakes the Beirut suburb Haret Hreik - known for being a Hezbollah stronghold.

The attack kills five people, wounds dozens more and raises fears that the country is being pulled in opposite directions by sectarian tension.

January also signals the start of the long-awaited trial over the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri - nine years after his death.

From The Hague, in the Netherlands, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will try five suspects, all tied to Hezbollah, for Hariri's death.

There are still many questions to answer, not least the whereabouts of the five suspects - they've not been caught and are being tried in absentia.

In February, ten months after becoming prime minister, Tammam Salam finally forms a government.

Salam's 24-member national unity Cabinet includes members of the Western-backed coalition as well as those of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and its allies.

"I am sure we will be able to put matters in the right perspective taking into consideration what our people, what the Lebanese, are looking forward to," he says at the time.

Many hundreds of women and activists march to Lebanon's parliament to show their support for victims of domestic violence to mark International Women's Day on 8 March.

Several high profile cases of domestic murders hit the headlines in 2014.

This year, the first Lebanese law against domestic violence was passed, offering Lebanese women some protection from abuse.

April 3rd is something of a milestone in the country.

Three years after the beginning of the Syrian conflict, Lebanon saw the one millionth Syrian to be registered as a refugee.

Almost one in four people in Lebanon are now refugees from neighbouring Syria.

"The challenge today is waking up to the realisation that this is a very protracted conflict. It's not going to end tomorrow. It's going to take some time. We don't know how long but there is a large number of people who are not going home soon. So their needs need to be addressed very quickly before it explodes in all of our faces," says Maha Yahya, from the Carnegie Centre for Middle Eastern Studies.

The country's infrastructure - from schools and hospitals to rubbish collection - remains over burdened, with some communities now imposing restrictions on refugee numbers.

In May, President Michel Suleiman left office, leaving behind an empty seat after parliament failed to elect his successor. The 25 May deadline passes, but no replacement is found.

"The Lebanese missed the opportunity to elect a president 'Made In Lebanon' by May 25," explains political analyst Sami Nader.

"After this, the problem now to get a solution you need kind of a regional consensus. You need a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, mainly. And this deal doesn't seem on the horizon yet."

A candidate must secure at least a two thirds majority in the 128-member parliament to become president.

Despite holding parliamentary meetings throughout the year to try and solve the issue - to this day the position remains unfilled.

In June and July the country is once again on high alert after a series of suicide bombings.

Suspects arrested in Hamra in June are believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State group and are said to have been planning an attack against the Speaker of Parliament, Nabi Berri.

Days later, flames engulf part of the four-star Duroy Hotel by Beirut's corniche after a suicide bomber blows himself up during a police raid on his room.

The suicide bomber was a Saudi national. His collaborator, also Saudi. This adds to the strain between Lebanon and the Gulf states.

The boldest incursion of jihadi fighters into Lebanese territory comes in August, when militants launch an offensive on the Syrian-Lebanese border town of Arsal.

The army regains control of the area, but locals and Syrian refugees, who have already fled the neighbouring civil war, are displaced once again.

In early August it's reported that 20 soldiers and policemen have been taken hostage by the militants.

"This Arsal war showed how fragile is the situation in Lebanon. How the borders are not really controlled. And how much capabilities and support the Lebanese army need," says Nader.

On 28 August, social media starts to report that one of the captives, soldier Ali Sayid, has been beheaded.

Massive crowds attend his funeral on 3rd September in Fnaydek.

A few days later the group says it has beheaded a second soldier, 20-year-old Abbas Medlej - sparking fears for the other hostages held by the group.

"The Lebanese army in the way was victim," says Nader.

"Yes, the Lebanese army was isolated. It's the only remaining Lebanese institution. One has to keep in mind that we don't have a president, there is a void at the level of the presidency, the parliament is practically freezed, all what they have achieved was to prolong their own mandate, to extend their own mandate and the Lebanese government is really in a very fragile situation."

The country's sectarian crisis comes to a head in October when fighting between government forces and gunmen erupts in Tripoli.

The city has become a hot bed for Islamic militants with firebrand clerics like Sheikh Khaled Hoblos openly preaching in the streets.

Nadim Houry of Human Rights Watch, appeals for calm.

"There is a lot of speculation today about ISIS' strength in Lebanon. But at this stage there is no indication that ISIS is going to seep through Tripoli tomorrow and control the city. Quite the contrary."

"I mean we saw that the army was actually able to beat back many of these groups and that actually many of these groups, and that although many of these groups while they may be Islamist, are not necessarily affiliated with ISIS. But almost, that sort of the issue here is, I think the main challenge is ISIS is able to frame the terms of the debate in many countries.

"And what is needed in Lebanon are pre-emptive strategies to undercut the potential implementation, or growth of ISIS movements."

The four day gun battle claims 20 lives as the army slowly regains control of Tripoli's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighbourhood - though the gang leaders they're hunting escape.

After three years of accepting Syrian refugees into the country, Lebanon has had enough.

On 18 October, it's reported that officials have closed the border between the two countries, despite pressure from the UN to keep it open.

According to official numbers, more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees now live in Lebanon - representing more than 20 percent of the population.

Refugees also appear to be targeted by disgruntled Lebanese citizens.

Eleven-year-old Khaled Darwish came back to his tent to find it burned to the ground.

"When we returned, we found that the tents were all burnt and black and I found all my toys burnt. Everything was burnt. Even my bicycle was burnt. All my toys and my ball," he says.

As the year draws to a close, the soldiers and police officers held hostage by Islamic militants, are no closer to being released.

The families of the hostages continue to protest, their anger now aimed at the government who they say haven't done enough.

Four soldiers have so far been executed by their captors.

The 26 November, saw the passing of one of the country's legendary singers.

Lebanese diva Sabah, died aged 87.

Mourners pay tribute to her incredible musical talent, provocative charm and huge heart.

As relative Lina Fghali Maalouf says, "The people have lost a column from Baalbek's ancient ruins."

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Dozens of protesters staged a sit in outside the French Ambassador's residence in Beirut on Tuesday, demanding the disarmament of Hezbollah and the implementation of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country.

Protesters called on French President Emmanuel Macron to help Lebanon in implementing the resolution.

Resolution 1559 was passed by the U.N. Security Council in 2004, when both Syria and Hezbollah maintained a presence in Lebanon.

It called for the establishment of full sovereignty in Lebanon, the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces and the disarmament of all militias in the country.

It also declared support for a "free and fair electoral process," without foreign interference.

Hezbollah has evolved from its origin as a guerilla group into major political force and steadily increased its role in the Lebanese politics since the assassination of the late prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005.

It has held seats in many previous governments and parliaments.

The group has also been implicated in the explosion that killed Hariri, on which the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will issue a verdict on August 7.

The Iranian-backed Shiite party is the main ally of the current Lebanese president Michel Aoun and shares with him the majority of the seats in parliament.

Beirut - 14 July 2020

1. Various of protesters outside the French ambassador's residence  

2. Mid of policemen

3. Mid of protesters

4. Protester with a black mask

5. Protesters with banners outside the ambassador's residence

6. Close of banner  

7. Protesters holding banners

8. French flag

9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Regina Qantara, protester:

"As France is a friendly country that contributed in building up the free independent Lebanese republic and it was behind the submission of the Security Council resolution 1559 and because this resolution has not been implemented to disarm the Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, we are demanding necessary measures be taken in the United Nations to give it international legitimacy to implement this resolution. Today in Lebanon, fifteen years after the first Cedar Revolution we've discovered that Lebanon is threatened by its entity, the geographical entity, its identity, its economy, by Iranian weapons and ideology that is completely different to Lebanese culture and its constitution."

10. Wide of protest

11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic/French) Claudia Hajjar, protester:

"We are demanding the liberation of Lebanon and the rest will be on us, because when Hezbollah and the Iranians leave, then all those who usurp Lebanon, those who stole from the public treasury and those who stole from the people, will escape like rats."

12.  Protesters holding banners