Hezbollah rejects link to Hariri's assassination

Hezbollah on Sunday rejected a German magazine report that a UN probe found it was behind the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri as a ploy to influence Lebanon's election just two weeks away.

"This is a pure fabrication aimed at influencing the election campaign and to deflect attention from the news about the dismantling of spy networks working for Israel," a statement from the Shiite Muslim militant group said.

Germany's Der Spiegel reported on Saturday that the UN commission probing the Hariri murder had new evidence that Hezbollah special forces "planned and executed" the Beirut car bombing on February 14, 2005.

The attack killed the billionaire former premier and 22 other people.

Der Spiegel's claims come ahead of a June 7 election in Lebanon that pits the US-backed parliamentary majority against an alliance headed by Hezbollah, which has the support of Syria and Iran.

Since January, Lebanon has charged a total of 18 people with spying for neighbouring Israel.

Hezbollah, which fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel, said the Spiegel allegations "harm the credibility" of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and called on The Hague-based court to act to unmask those behind the "lies."

"This is not the first time that newspapers have resorted to such fabrications," the Shiite group said.

A spokeswoman for the tribunal prosecutor refused on Saturday to comment on the Spiegel report, which quoted "sources close to the tribunal" and said it had examined internal documents.

"We don't know where they are getting the story from. The office of the prosecutor doesn't comment on any issues related to operational aspects of the investigation," she said.

According to Der Spiegel, the Shiite group is implicated through the discovery of two linked networks of mobile phones, all belonging to Hezbollah's "operational arm."

It says a secret unit of Lebanese security forces, led by intelligence expert Captain Wissam Eid, filtered out the numbers before he was assassinated in January 2008.

A Hezbollah commando unit is also thought to be behind Eid's killing, Der Spiegel said.

The UN investigative commission has said in the past that there was converging evidence that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were involved in Hariri's killing.

But Syria has consistently denied any involvement.

"Although the Syrian government is not being declared free of the suspicion of involvement, at least President (Bashar al-) Assad is no longer in the line of fire," said Der Spiegel.

The magazine named the suspected mastermind as Hajj Salim, believed to be the commander of Hezbollah's military wing and resident of Beirut's southern suburbs, the group's stronghold in the capital.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for an international arrest warrant to be issued for Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah over the assassination.

"The report in Der Spiegel on Nasrallah's direct involvement in the assassination of Hariri should raise concern in the entire international community," Lieberman told reporters.

"He should have an international arrest warrant issued against him, and if not, he should be arrested by force," he said.

Since the July-August 2006 war between the Jewish state and Hezbollah, Nasrallah has topped Israel's most wanted list and does not venture out in public for fear of assassination.

A leading member of the parliamentary majority in Lebanon, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, warned that the German report could have dangerous consequences in the deeply divided country.

"Beware of rumours and press leaks, they could damage the work of justice and provoke discord and sedition," he said.

A spokesman for the Future Movement headed by Hariri's son Saad said it would not comment on the Spiegel report and there has been no reaction from the Lebanese government.