Dubai: The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) announced on Wednesday that there is enough evidence to conduct a trial of the men accused of assassinating former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
The trial will create political tension between the concerned political parties, but will not have negative implications on the ground, a political analyst in Beirut said.
Internationally, all eyes will be on the Lebanese government's stance.
On "the international arena, everyone will wait for the government's reaction," Emil Khoury, columnist and writer for the An-Nahar newspaper, said.
The Lebanese cabinet is scheduled to hold a meeting today after which it will announce its position, he told Gulf News.
So far, only former prime minister Sa'ad Hariri has reacted to the STL's announcement by urging Hezbollah to turn in the four accused, all of whom are members of the Lebanese group.
Hassan Nasrallah, chief of Hezbollah, who has already denied any links to the February 14, 2005 assassination, has said Hezbollah will not hand over the four accused.
Nasrallah was expected to deliver a speech later yesterday, but it was not clear whether he would react to the STL move.
The Hague-based STL has already issued arrest warrants in June for the four men indicted for the murder. The full indictment was not made public until yesterday.
According to the indictment, the four suspects are linked to the murder largely by circumstantial evidence based on phone records. "The four accused participated in a conspiracy with others aimed at committing a terrorist act to assassinate Rafik Hariri," according to the 47-page indictment.
