UNSC welcomes opening of Hariri Tribunal

The Security Council late Thursday welcomed the opening earlier in the day of the trial at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), nearly nine years after the "heinous" terrorist attack that killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri and 21 others. The United Nations Security Council also condemned the coinciding terrorist attack in north-eastern area of Hermel which killed five people and injured dozens. "The members of the Security Council stressed the vital importance of combating impunity for the long-term stability and security of Lebanon," and noted with gratitude the continuing support of the Government of Lebanon, and of other Member States, for the work of the Hague-based Tribunal. The Tribunal, established by an agreement between the United Nations and the Lebanese government and later endorsed by the Security Council in 2007, is to "prosecute persons responsible for the attack on February 14, 2005 resulting in the death of sitting Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 21 others. The long-awaited trial of four Hezbollah members in absentia in the 2005 "heinous" terrorist attack Thursday was marred by a suicide car bomb explosion earlier in the day in Hermel in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, the second this year. IT "strongly condemned" the terrorist attack in Hermel, and reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that any acts of terrorism are "criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed." The Council reaffirmed the need to combat the scourge by all means and underlined the need to bring the perpetrators to justice. It also appealed to all Lebanese people to preserve national unity in the face of attempts to undermine the country's stability, and stressed the importance for all Lebanese parties to respect Lebanon's policy of disassociation with the conflict in Syria and to refrain from any involvement, consistent with their commitment in the 2012 Baabda Declaration aimed at safeguarding Lebanon. The 2012 Baabda Declaration had been made during past dialogue among the country's diverse political leaders and parties at the Presidential Palace in Baabda district, located just southeast of Beirut. It genuinely contained pledges to maintain dialogue, combating violence and abstention from resorting to arms and violence to resolve political differences.