Hezbollah Looks for a Shield From Indictments’ Sting

For more than five years, much of Lebanese politics has seemed to revolve around a single question: Who killed Rafik Hariri? For years, billboards bearing the face of the former prime minister — killed in a Beirut car bombing in 2005 — hung in the city with the words “The Truth — for the sake of Lebanon.” An international tribunal was established under United Nations auspices, and many Lebanese believed that an indictment of top Syrian officials — widely believed to be the culprits — could help protect Lebanon’s sovereignty.

But in recent weeks, a consensus has emerged in Lebanon — presumably, through leaks — that the tribunal will soon indict members of Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement, for playing a role in the killing. That accusation, which has been rumored since last year, is already raising tensions in Lebanon, and some fear it could provoke another bloody internal conflict between Hezbollah and its pro-Western rivals like the one that took place in May 2008.