Lebanese attorneys file lawsuit against Hezbollah leader Nasrallah over Beirut clashes

The lawsuit “has nothing to do with politics” and is all about “finding justice for the affected families,” the attorneys stated. 

By Tobias Siegal, World Israel News

A number of Lebanese attorneys have filed a lawsuit against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah over the involvement of the Iran-backed terror group in clashes with Lebanese forces in Beirut earlier this year, which led to seven casualties and over 20 injuries.

Representing families whose homes were damaged during the clashes, the lawyers said Thursday that the lawsuit “has nothing to do with politics” and is all about “finding justice for the affected families,” Hebrew language media reported.

They added that they have gathered documentation and many testimonies that prove beyond a doubt that Hezbollah operatives were responsible for the surrounding damage that was caused in the Lebanese capital, rejecting claims by the terror organization that accused the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) party for starting the violent clashes.

Rejecting any form of responsibility for the incident, Nasrallah went as far as threatening LF leader Samir Geagea, urging him to stop blaming Hezbollah for the incident or face a civil war.

“Some senior members of the forces mentioned the name ‘Resistance’ [Hezbollah] as carrying weapons in front of the demonstrators,” Nasrallah said after the incident. “The chairman of this party is trying to create an imaginary enemy for our neighbors … in order to gain legitimacy,” he continued.

“The real agenda of the Lebanese Forces is civil war,” Nasrallah added, and called the party, rather than his Shiite forces, “the biggest threat to the Christian presence in Lebanon.”

The incident in question took place on October 13 during a march organized by Hezbollah in protest of Lebanese Judge Tarek Bitar over his ongoing investigation into last year’s massive blast in the city’s port, which killed over 200 people and injured about 7,000 others.

Bitar has suffered repeated threats by Hezbollah-affiliated politicians, who have demanded to replace him as the judge responsible for the probe. Families of the victims, however, have called such demands ploys meant to “prevent the truth” from coming out.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Bitar had called for the arrest of several prime suspects in the explosion, including former finance minister Ali Hasan Khalil, a known supporter of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

____

Batya Jerenberg contributed to this report.