Lebanon charges four with murder in Hariri case

BROUMMANA, Lebanon - Lebanon has charged four pro-Syrian generals with murder over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, judicial sources said.

They said Lebanon's Public Prosecutor Saeed Meerza also charged the four, detained on Tuesday on the recommendation of chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, with attempted murder and carrying out a terrorist act. Hariri and 20 others were killed in a massive bombing in Beirut on February 14.

Mehlis welcomed the move, a UN official in Beirut said, having "strongly recommended" Lebanese authorities formally arrest the generals on suspicion they were involved in planning the attack.

The decision came hours after Mehlis, leading an inquiry ordered by the UN Security Council, said he believed more people were involved in the bombing. None of the suspects so far were Syrians, he said.

Many Lebanese blame Syria, which had controlled Lebanon since the civil war, for the killing, which plunged the country into months of turmoil.

"I think we have advanced quite a bit. We have made progress. We are not recommending people to be arrested on rumour," Mehlis told a news conference in a mountain village.

"We suggested to the general prosecutor the permanent arrest of four out of five suspects," he said. "These five suspects we have arrested are in our assessment only part of the picture ... We think more people are involved."

Lebanese police detained Major General Jamil al-Sayyed, former head of General Security, Major General Ali Hajj, ex-chief of police, and Brigadier General Raymond Azar, former military intelligence chief, in dawn raids on Tuesday.

Brigadier General Mustafa Hamdan, Lebanon's Republican Guard chief, handed himself over to the UN team the same day.

Hamdan, a close aide of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, was the only security chief to keep his job after parliamentary elections in June ushered in an anti-Syrian majority for the first time since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Lebanese magistrate Elias Eid will interrogate the generals on Friday and inspect the evidence before deciding whether to push ahead with legal proceedings.

The four are now in Lebanese custody, under heavy guard.

Damascus ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April amid world pressure and Lebanese street protests after the killing of Hariri and 20 others in Beirut.

- REUTERS