Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri called Saturday for “calm” in Lebanon in the face of expectations that a UN-backed court may implicate members of the powerful Hezbollah group in the 2005 murder of his father, ex-premier Rafiq Hariri. His comments came two days after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah revealed that he expected rogue members of his Shiite party to be indicted for Rafiq Hariri's assassination five years ago. “There are those who fear or even hope that the (Hariri) murder case will unleash a Lebanese crisis or confessional strife,” the prime minister said in a speech to members of his Future Movement. “There are attempts... to organize campaigns aimed at sowing confusion and concern in the minds of the Lebanese people,” Hariri said. “There is no need for this fear... We call for calm,” he added. On Thursday, the Hezbollah chief told a news conference via video link that Hariri told him some members of the Shiite movement would be indicted by the Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the murder. “I was personally informed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri before his visit to Washington (in May) that the tribunal will accuse some undisciplined members” of Hezbollah, Nasrallah said. “That's where things seem to be heading,” he said, adding that the impending decision by the UN-backed court had pushed Lebanon into a “very sensitive phase.” MPs from the prime minister's bloc denied that he had told Nasrallah Hezbollah members would be indicted. “Hariri did not inform Nasrallah about the indictment sheet simply because he is not privy to its contents,” MP Hadi Hbeich said in a radio interview Friday. MP Ammar Houri confirmed that Hariri and Nasrallah had met in May but said they had discussed “only press reports” suggesting that the UN-back court could link Hezbollah to Rafiq Hariri's murder.
