Lebanon will fund a UN-backed court that has charged Hezbollah operatives with the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in comments published Friday. "Lebanon's interest lies in financing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and the government will act in Lebanon's best interests," Mikati told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.
"When the time comes for the government to make a decision on funding the court, my decision will serve the interests of Lebanon." According to the tribunal's 2007 founding text, Lebanon is responsible for 49 percent of the court's finances. Beirut however has not yet paid its share for the year 2011 and in 2010 transferred the funds without government approval.
The Netherlands-based tribunal, the only international court with jurisdiction to try an act of terror, has charged four Hezbollah operatives with the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others in Beirut. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has slammed the tribunal as a US-Israeli conspiracy against the Shiite militant group and said the four indictees will never be found.
In a recent interview with AFP, Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan, who represents Hezbollah in the Mikati government, said the movement would announce its position on funding the court "in due time". Lebanon's pro-Western opposition says it doubts Hezbollah will allow any funds to reach the tribunal. "In no way can Hezbollah approve (the decision to fund the court), and therefore the prime minister is headed for a serious problem in his cabinet," said MP Ahmad Fatfat of the opposition bloc, which is led by Hariri's son ex-premier Saad Hariri.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies hold the majority of seats in the cabinet of Mikati, who rose to premiership in January after the Shiite group forced the collapse of Saad Hariri's unity government in a feud over the tribunal. Hariri's camp is also at loggerheads with the Hezbollah-led majority over the Syria crisis, with the Shiite group backing President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition throwing its weight behind anti-regime protesters.