Lebanon – The long-awaited verdict is due in the trial of four men allegedly involved in the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri and 21 others in a 2005 bombing.
The defendants – suspected members of the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah – were tried in absentia by a special tribunal in the Nertherlands.
Outrage at the attack in Beirut forced Hezbollah’s backer Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon after 29 years. However, Hezbollah and Syria governments have denied any involvement in the attack.
More than 220 people were also injured when a van filled with explosives blew up as Hariri’s convoy passed along Beirut’s seafront cornice.
The killing was a watershed moment for Lebanon and gave rise to rival alliances that shaped Lebanese politics for years afterwards.
Hariri’s son, Saad, led the anti-Syrian, pro-Western grouping that emerged, and subsequently served three terms as prime minister himself.
