Hezbollah Leads Criticism of U.N. Vote

Creation of International Court in Hariri's Slaying Unites Lebanese Opposition

BEIRUT, May 31 -- Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militia, and other opposition groups in Lebanon on Thursday denounced the U.N. creation of an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, calling it a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty.

The across-the-board condemnation from the opposition heightened worries that creation of the tribunal will worsen factional divisions that have paralyzed Lebanon's government for months.

The court, created by a U.N. Security Council vote Wednesday, is tasked with charging and trying the suspects in the February 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.

Preliminary U.N. investigations pointed to officials in neighboring Syria. Syria has denied any role. Pro-Syrian groups in Lebanon were among those protesting establishment of the tribunal, the first U.N.-backed criminal court for the Middle East. Hezbollah, the armed movement that is the leading opposition bloc in Lebanon, said in a statement that the panel's creation "is a trespass upon the Lebanese state and a violation of its internal affairs."

"It violates legal principles as well as the charter of the United Nations," the group said, calling the U.N. resolution for the court "illegal and illegitimate at both the national and international levels."

The Security Council voted to establish the foreign tribunal after Lebanon's opposition blocked efforts to create a court in the matter of Hariri's killing.

Allies of Lebanon's government, including Saad Hariri, the slain politician's son and political successor, say they hope that bringing the killers to justice will end the era of political assassinations in Lebanon.

Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, responded bitterly Thursday to accusations by American and British envoys that he was to blame for blocking a vote in Lebanon on a tribunal. "It is an honor that I have not violated the constitution of my country nor deepened the divisions among its people," Berri said. "I leave to you the honor of the contrary: ignoring the Lebanese consensus and constitution."

Ministers affiliated with Hezbollah and Berri's Amal party resigned from Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government in November and have since declared it illegitimate. Hezbollah and its allies want a third of the seats in the cabinet in exchange for returning to a power-sharing government.

Berri has refused to hold legislative sessions since December. With a vote on a tribunal blocked by the stalemate, Siniora wrote to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to ask that the Security Council act.

President Emile Lahoud, another Syria ally, also criticized the vote to create an outside tribunal, saying Thursday that the court could cause further division.

"The tribunal is now a fait accompli. It is behind us, and this will certainly take some of the pressure off," political analyst Ibrahim Bayram said. He added that the opposition and government still need to deal with many problems, including the Lebanese military's confrontation with extremist Islamic fighters at a Palestinian refugee camp in the north.