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A couple of notes on this piece about Salim Ayyash, the Hezbollah operative who was convicted in Rafik Hariri's killing by the tribunal earlier this month: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/man-convicted-in-2005-assassination-of-former-lebanese-prime-minister-was-part-of-a-hezbollah-hit-squad-officials-say/2020/08/25/543cbf1a-e6e0-11ea-bc79-834454439a44_story.html?outputType=amp&fbclid=IwAR1Yr46Su68h7MPWEqoeFUJLNqv7RSBvq-gRxceyRbLsfNLOefMORCzf_5k
It was already known that Ayyash may have been involved in other political assassinations in Lebanon. He was indicted by the Hariri tribunal in 3 other attacks in 2004 and 2005, the so-called "connected cases" that the tribunal will hold trials in https://www.stl-tsl.org/en/the-cases/stl-18-10
The indictment also stated that Mustafa Badreddine, Hezbollah's military chief until his mysterious death in 2016, was involved in planning those assassinations, in addition to alleged role in killing Rafik Hariri.
To repeat: Salim Ayyash, the Hezbollah operative convicted in Hariri's killing, is also on trial in 3 other attacks: attempted assassination of Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr, and the assassination of Georges Hawi. All between Oct 2004 and July 2005.
And he, according to the prosecution's evidence, did so in coordination with Hezbollah's military chief, Mustafa Badreddine, who was also Imad Mughniyeh's brother in law.
This is already a pattern that points to the group's leadership involvement in the assassination campaign. If you want to try to sell rogue operative carrying out the most consequential political assassination in Lebanon (bullshit as that claim is), it's harder to sell 4 murders.
The piece refers to other attacks that Ayyash may be implicated in. These are the assassinations of Wissam Eid (who uncovered the telecoms evidence the cases were based on), former ISF chief Wissam al-Hassan and former economy minister and diplomat Mohammad Chatah.
These are cases that are outside the Hariri tribunal's mandate, which is time-limited. The court can only investigate political assassinations between Oct 2004 and Dec 2005, if they can prove they are "connected" to the Hariri assassination.
The prosecutors have already convinced the pre-trial judge that these other assassinations/attempts Ayyash and Badreddine were involved in are connected to the Hariri assassination, which is why they are proceeding to trial. This was a systematic campaign. We already know that.
This is the indictment accusing Ayyash of orchestrating the 3 other attacks against Murr, Hamadeh and Hawi, and detailing his role and that of Badreddine's. It was made public in September last year.
That said, the testimony of anonymous, self-interested US intelligence officials alleging the involvement of Hasan Nasrallah is not helpful. Produce that evidence, since it isn't likely to see the light of day in court.
It is clear that Ayyash, a Hezbollah operative, collaborated with the group's highest military echelon to carry out multiple assassinations. Anonymous claims tying Nasrallah to them won't make a difference. Produce a smoking gun, if you claim to have it. You owe it to the victims
Neglected to add the link to the indictment in the connected cases: https://www.stl-tsl.org/crs/assets/Uploads/20190916-F0012-PUBLIC-PRV-OTP-Notice-Provis-PRV-Indict-14June2019-Web2.pdf?
Oh and the authors of the piece are @smekhennet and @JobyWarrick who are awesome journalists and you should read their books
