A secret agreement that will shape the middle east for this century to conquer the world war one through our eye on all jersey. Has justice been served in the assassination of rafik hariri a member of hezbollah is found guilty of a massive bomb blast in beirut 15 years ago how will the murder verdict of lebanons former Prime Minister the received when tense and there is already high this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program. It was a long awaited verdict after an investigation which has cost hundreds of millions of dollars 15 years after the assassination of rafik hariri the u. N. Backed International Tribunals in the hey come victor. A member of hezbollah 3 other defendants belonging to the armed group what acquitted of killing lebanons former Prime Minister all 4 were tried in their absence hezbollah denies any involvement in the massive bomb blast in beirut which killed 21 other people judge just said hezbollah and syrian leadership i may have had no tips to eliminate howdy but they lacked direct evidence implicating them in the crime the verdicts expected to influence lebanese politics and widen 6 tarion divisions well discuss that shortly 1st reports from lebanons capital. This special tribunal for lebanon reached its verdict in the trial of 4 hezbollah members charged with conspiracy to kill former Prime Minister rafiq and how d. D. And 21. 00 others. Yash was found guilty the city others were acquitted because the circumstantial evidence was not Strong Enough to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Prosecutors have based their case on evidence of a phone network that monitored how d. D. Months before his death that went silent following his murder. How did he son saad himself a former Prime Minister was in the court in the hague for the judgement he welcomed the verdict vowing not to rest until punishment was served and calling on hezbollah to cooperate. With them in the name of the leaders family the martyr Rafique Hariri and in the name of all the families of martyrs and victims we accept the courts ruling and wish for justice to be served to be clear that we are not giving up our blood right. Judges did say there wasnt enough evidence to prove direct involvement by hezbollahs leadership or the Syrian Government which was in control of lebanon at the time of the murder they did note i asked his affiliation to the group and his communication with most of a better deal in a known hezbollah commander who died in mysterious circumstances in syria in 2016 is going to be very difficult. To believe that it. Was high. Well its carried out. Without any kind of green light. From the Syrian Regime. Hezbollah secretary general has on the long denied any role in the massive bomb blast in beirut 15 years ago its not clear how he will respond to saddam call to cooperate but has repeatedly vowed never to hand over the suspects. We dont feel concerned by the tribunals decisions for us it will be as if no decision was ever announced if our brothers are unjustly sentenced as we expect we will maintain their innocence. The former Prime Ministers killing tore Lebanon Society apart he was considered the leader of the muslims and the community whose assassin belongs to a shiite group the verdict is unlikely to heal divisions theres been political instability since killing it was also followed by a series of assassinations that targeted anti Syrian Government figures in the country since then the Political Landscape changed the balance of power favors hezbollah and its allies which control political and military power. But some see an opportunity to solve the latest political crisis. Saad hariri called on hezbollah to sacrifice the same way he and his group sacrificed and this somehow opens the doors for settling political issues the court which can only accuse individuals didnt tie has a bonus leadership to the murder but it indirectly implicated it leading many to believe the verdict could either set the stage for further instability or and years of confrontation that followed the assassination set of beirut lets listen to how some of the lebanese people reacted to the verdict. My opinion is just like what saad hariri said its politically known who did it weve wanted International Tribunals since 2005 and now its given its ruling well go with the verdict but the real judgment isnt here judgement is with the almighty you wont find it on earth. Its all worthless theyve been investigating for 15 years they provide evidence but its never 100 percent decisive proof theyve just been taking money for nothing during all these years just to create another civil war in lebanon and no more no less all of the names have already been tied to his bowler tomorrow i think they will be a 63 and civil war here was every little thing as you can see they dont want to cause discourse and argue more people on the street cant take it much more i mean what are they supposed to say its clear who is behind the killing and the story is clear the tribe you know has given its verdict. Lets bring in our guests in beirut. Public policy fellow and professor of journalism at the American University in beirut in washington d. C. Fill us back with a junk professor at George WashingtonUniversity Also in beirut ilias hanna a retired general in the lebanons army warm welcome to your rami the 1st reaction among many lebanese across the political spectrum was basically it took us all these years an army of investigators lawyers jurists to say that silly biassed is to blame but not being able to connect the dots so not being able to bring him into court theres many dimensions of the decision that was unsatisfying to most people interesting thing about it is that. People had some things a lot. And to hezbollah people have something they like but most people i think gave it a shrug of the shoulders they dont think it was an instrumental or ending impunity. They are wondering whether an International Investigation of port explosion is going to be were made a similar straight so many different dimensions to this but in the totality i found it rather a low key. Process. For us the tribunals is not monday to in a way to indict political groups i mean whether the general sentiment among many people is that this is not what we were expecting them to do after all these years you know i think accept romneys right expectations were high on either side of the political divide in lebanon because by law side is unsatisfied with the verdict because a member of his fall and military commander along as was in fact guilty beyond reasonable doubt but at the same time the anti hizbullah camp in lebanon not satisfied that the court did not directly point fingers or connect the dots to the organization or to the Syrian Regime it did however paint a political context the broader context in which this is thats a nation and place and did mention that they can a position against the Syrian Regime and one that was also a matter of his follow up but yes i think the court came across as technical as legal as noone wants and i think that plays in its favor rather than you know what it had been accused of since its formation which is in a Political Tool of the west now the terrorists the zionist camp and so on so it has the reason why many people in lebanon in lebanon in particular were baffled by the verdict is that basically they say that if selim ayyash was to be. Found by the by the tribunal as. Involved in the killing of a few this was a an operation that required massive logistics intelligence and you couldnt ultimately boy done to one person so there are loads of issues which are missing in this whole verdict. Because the lack of evidence was not really billing this. To connect the dots because d when you talk about the personell it in lebanon that may really change the face of lebanon because post assassination the the face of lebanon on the bandwagon and you know. Politically the political decisions that have been have really changed limit on it really change after death us initially to take one person and make him responsible to kill deceit ip highly guarded with the new with technology and more all over to connect and you know. Provide issues and give orders and wondered at his you know. What about of a minister had it and then take like to point tons of t. N. T. That needs a high expert to really in or make them as a bomb and bring the mitsubishi that was stolen in japan so its a highly complicated scheme or highly complicated plot or operation i mean. And that meant or deferred it came saw that i need you know little issue all these are the this big picture of really killing but i missed it having because i mean if that had it in a political context political situation and it was killed it was killed as a jail political struggle in the beginning of the jail political struggle indonesian between iran and you know the arab gulf the arab and the United States of america we cannot believe that they could so easily. Theyre the type units ok bust the verdict its an open book ok rami i mean how do you read into the wording of the verdict itself for example that they arent famous paragraph about not indicting lebanon and syria but saying that the political environment that existed it paved the way for hezbollah and syria to have motive to eliminate howdy. Thats kind of peculiar because i dont know if that was on the sort of legal mandate of say im not a lawyer but theyre supposed to find who killed her leader and the other people many other people who died using the evidence that was available. And its interesting that they said that syria and hezbollah theres no evidence for them but there are common interest in there and thats thats a slightly. Extralegal istic kind of comment but i think its because in lebanon this was a political trial in the hague this was a judicial trial in the hague they judged evidence and lebanon most people judge political positions. But because this was this happened 15 years ago. Its lost a lot of its sting that it used that it had for for many years and the other important thing is the how did it assassination which led to the withdrawal of the syrians following a big uprising and then lebanon and then allowed hezbollah to expand its power and. Take over from the syrians and being the behind the scenes power in lebanon that helps create or break governments so that london is completely different today than it was back then and theres so many new problems people are suffering from and trying to deal with that in a way these little. Just these little elements in the dream little decision are intriguing but particularly important for most people i would say all right now phyllis when you look at the wording of the statement you get the impression that the judges were somehow. Trying to be very careful as if they were tiptoeing in a mine field now off to where does it leave lebanon yeah i mean i think the Political Landscape in lebanon has shifted significantly in the 15 years since the assassination of Prime Minister if. You know we are more concerned with their livelihoods today there is lebanon is in the midst of the deepest financial crisis its ever faced 92000000000. 00 in debt it seems it does not have a government its government collapse recently because under the pressure of street protests and. Beirut blasts in the 4th that destroyed almost half the city so yeah i do think that the reality on the ground has shifted but i do see this as a positive rather than the negative because it allows the court which might have been tiptoeing around the verdict been very careful about its wording and the fear of the political consequences it allows the court to and to be seen more as a as a tool of justice and legality rather than a political instrument and i think that that positive lebanon needs to move forward lebanon meets that try and put together a government that is more representative of the needs of the of the day in order to be able to negotiate with the International Community the support that it needs to get up and running ok let me ask is this verdict likely to shave the future of the relationship between hezbollah between sad headed and hassan the salon how do you see them operating together in the future. I think politically politically. Saddle had it accepted the verdict i dont think that there is some harmony for the future i dont think the sunni in lebanon will accept what really happened forward. As well as whats happening today and. The verdict and see nation is one dynamic a problem in the Bigger Picture if you add the political problems economic problems and who is going in lebanon to really an approach you know sad to haiti to hezbollah we dont have this personality that is easily acceptable accepted by everybody even the president the floor is not that he able to really be constructive and on the assassination the verdict as well as the explosion and beadle we are in this and they say so after 37 years of hezbollah thank to put all foreign powers the western power the other power out of lebanon all of a sudden after being able to export everybody came back to lebanon you add the verdict today and you have different formula ok so complicated its a nobody is it exactly it connected the but didnt have any is on the confession and especially confessional perspective what it was quite interesting the statement of started how do you know who said that he was willing to move forward but at the same time he was expecting hezbollah to reciprocate particular when it comes to handing over city my ass to the to the authorities 11 for further investigation is this something which is likely to heal the wounds between the 2. Or do you think it will further deepen the divide between the sunnis or the shias 11 and im not so sure of federal impact also mission shares were certainly between has on the shoreline saad hariri. Its going to end up being a little bit of both sides and being new to. This is the problem in lebanon that the lebanese political elite have to satisfy so many parties to be able to reach any decision big or small. And they have this tradition of no victor no vanquished as the way they reach decisions but thats a fools errand no victor novak wish has left you with no Political Class almost no country no economy no currency no jobs no electricity and no many other things besides no victor novak or so the population of lebanon is fed up with the system its completely rebelling against and wants all of these people out including nostra learn how to eat in our own everybody so the relationship between heavy the and the stronger which would have been an important 110 years ago is far less significant to the hezbollah is really the only major power in the country and the counterpart force is the rebelling citizenry the millions of people who are supporting the the uprising how those 2 engage with each other i think is the ultimate determinant of where lebanon is going to move ahead and they dont have a lot of time to make that decision because the country is collapsing economically phyllis this has come at a very critical moment for the lebanese people an unprecedented political impasse and im presented economic crisis but ultimately political leaders will have to sit down and see all the options one of the options is a National Unity government the concern is that if there is no agreement it could be just a descent into anarchy and chaos where do you see the lebanese heading forward. Yeah i mean i know theyre not necessarily optimistic about what a National Unity government can be able to deliver a problem that needs as you know in the lebanese political lexicon a National Unity government means getting has on this for a laws hezbollah and heavy in all the various political leaders in the country represented in one government and thats generally a formula for for a lack of progress because they tend not to agree on things instead i think we need to look at things differently i think we are this is lebanon centineo and come september president who we will mark 100 years since the creation of greater lebanon in 1928 is a Pivotal Moment coming on with the olds that the beirut last really the people of lebanon have had enough theyve been in the streets since last october and now we have a regional and International Involvement the french and particular with president mccraw have taken the lead and present more pride enjoys good relations with the various communities in the country but also their various regional and International Players was able to get the attention thats it from us he also has relations into iran and spoke to president rouhani so this is really a moment where there is an opportunity no matter how small or the french and others just have to weave to get a new regional and local understanding can move lebanon forward i dont think the unity government and yes and rami spoke about the new movement of the live on hes saying that with fed up with the political establishment the has been disconnected from reality do you think that this verdict will pave the way for the. Independent liberties vote people to move forward build up a coalition that could take over in the future i think the change in lebanon politically its like a process and or i mean these guys that at the neeley the culprits for leaving the situation today this big problems in lebanon are the one that the eally and d you know and the government and the parliament so if you want to change you need. A process and the process needs. Electoral law and this electoral law whos going to really make that a law there are the majority and i think that we are unsought this mystic about the situation women are because its now becoming between iran hezbollah who really controls the political scene in lebanon and the coming west i mean who controls the Ground Control politics has below controls the ground so he controls politics why he has to give the strongest give nothing and the weakest has nothing to give but i mean we used to talk for many years about lebanon each time its the same d. N. A. A country divided along sectarian political ethnic regional lines that definition of lebanon do you find it now obsolete. I think so and i think many lebanese do they want to a secular. Democratic state that is truly built on the consent of the governed the. Discussion were having has highlighted the external actors and thats this everything that was said is correct and what it tells us is lebanon has essentially lost its sovereignty its fundamental Decision Making is not in the hands of lebanese its in the hands of french iranian so it is americans other people around who try to have an influence the turks are looking for all the israelis tried to do so behind the scenes so and youve got a very citizenry that has completely given up on on its Political Leadership and youve got a Political Leadership a political elite that has completely forgotten about our citizens not just in the last few months but in the last 15 years so this is a very very fragmented ravaged damaged country that is not acting as a unified look at political entity and this has to be fixed and can only be fixed by the lebanese people fear us very briefly each time there was an incident an event in lebanon we used to say this wait and see what would be the reaction of the iranians and the saudis because they were the ones with massive political weight 11 that notion is it still relevant to lebanon. I think it very much is that were sort of to take the Bigger Picture here are the middle east today falls into or is divided among 3 tracks you have certainly the iranian camp and its allies represented by its fall and up and you certainly have the saudi led arab gulf camp and then you have the turkey and qatar camp and lebanon is this future territory so lebanon will continue to be a turbulent place and youve got to add on top of that the fact that you have this unprecedented financial crisis that the country is facing and i think that there will be further pressure coming from the from the streets of beirut against the political establishment which is why there is of course a party to this were able to weave together some kind of new regional understand that hes not too different from the type of towards that end of the civil war in 99 gentlemen unfortunately we have to leave it there but i promise you were continue to revisit the issue of lebanon but i mean. I appreciate your insight thank you too for watching you can see the program again anytime by visiting our website. For further discussion go to our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com for was last a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is a chance i suppose for me and the entire team here in doha by phone now. Yes. And the disease because 50 percent of the debts. Says. They come in here and in search of work to provide a better life for the families theyve left behind. But though their labor is vital to food industry. They risk exploitation by corporations and organized crime. Trapped in a system with little hope of escape people empower investigates. On aljazeera. Jump into the stream and julian on Global Community this generation will have to create its own democracy with social media on and will online be part of the debate let me put some you keep coming steve when no topic is off the table is taking on all the systemic islands that people of color have suffered not only now but for decades we are going to be to transform lives the way he keeps he way to get business if were going to adapt to climate break out this street on out is there really understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world so no matter what you see the news and Current Affairs that matter to you. Man. Russian opposition politician alexina baldy is in a coma with suspected poisoning he fell ill during a flight to moscow. Hello im adrian figure this is al jazeera live from cairo also coming out. For close to 4 years now here shown no interest in putting in the work for me