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UN Tribunal Verdict Failed to Provide Answers to Hariri Assassination, Arab
Analysts Say

Dale Gavlak

   AMMAN, JORDAN - Arab leaders and analysts have expressed dismay and
   disappointment over the U.N.-backed tribunal's verdict on the 2005
   assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Analysts
   consider the killing to be a seismic event that changed the region's
   history. It led to the Syrian military's expulsion from Lebanon after
   30 years of exerting full domination over the country. They also say
   the ruling failed to provide needed answers, 15 years on, as to who was
   behind the assassination.

   The U.N.-backed tribunal found Hezbollah member Salim Ayyash guilty as
   a co-conspirator in the Beirut bombing that killed Hariri and 21 other
   people. Three other Hezbollah members were acquitted, but the court
   found no evidence of direct involvement by the leadership of Hezbollah
   or the Syrian government -- something Hariri's son, Saad, challenges.
   He said the verdict showed Hezbollah was responsible.

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