After the detection of one COVID-19 case between the UNIFIL forces a week ago, the official number of cases increased today to become 22. https://t.co/S9cz77AtTL

On the occasion of the verdict in Rafic Hariri's case, we provide some insights from Bo Ostrom, former vice-president of the investigation department at the UN Commission for Lebanon created in April 2005.

Notes:
- The UN Commission was headed by Detlev Mehlis.
- The documentary, produced by Riad Kobaisi and Rami Al Amin, is available on YouTube (source).
- ISF = (Lebanon) Internal Security Forces

Bo Ostrom: Ground or underground explosion?

It looked an underground explosion. This was somehow eclipsed in the investigation (00:32): «Detlev [Mehlis] and me, we would discuss it, he said it doesn't matter if it's or ground or underground. I didn't share his opinion.»

What device? (01:15) «A mobile phone, a remote control in these wavelengths could not be used, that's for sure.¹ If you were using a remote control, you had to have a satellite phone (...) [but no,] which means it has to be a cord, a wire, to push the button.»

¹Hariri's convoy had electronic jamming devices.

Bo Ostrom: A tourist witnessed that army vehicles put a pallet (1x1m) into the ground the night before.

Bo Ostrom: Suspicion on the Lebanese State?

A big blast: 1000 kg of RDX and C4. «It must come from the military, or from the State, or something like that.»

00:35 «[The Lebanese authorities], they were really tampering with evidence. In early stage, they went out and said it was TNT, but that was proven really wrong.»

02:02 «Shortly after the blast, all the main figures within the intelligence were on the spot. They were at Minet El Hosn street and they did nothing, cause they were pointing fingers.»

03:01 About the four generals incarcerated then released [in 2012]: «[Their] negligence, or omission, is very very astonishing. It's a big question mark.»

Bo Ostrom: There was a HSBC Bank CCTV camera that recorded minutes before the explosion. The Mitsubishi van, allegedly the bomb carrier, was driving very slow, at 22 km/h.

00:45 «Have we had this situation before, this modus operandi? (...) Have you ever had a case where the bomb carrier is on-the-run? No. Never.»

Bo Ostrom: The second camera of HSBC went missing.

00:16 «Allegedly, the ISF said they did secure this evidence, but no one knew where the tapes went»

Bo Ostrom: Israel and USA were requested to provide satellite imagery for the international investigation, but they didn't share it.

00:43 Israel's response was silence. The US said they had «technical problems».

Bo Ostrom: Wissam Al Hasan, Hariri's security chief, chose the route. In this morning, he was supposed to be in the convoy (00:29), but very late he jumped off.

Bo Ostrom: How did the perpetrators know the route? Is Wissam Al Hasan a suspect here?

00:26 «There was only one person, up to the time of departure, who had the info about the route to be taken. (...) You had 3 different routes, you could make an assessment which one is the most probable. By chance? Do you believe in that? I don't.»

02:27 «We could not elucidate if he really was at university, (...) and it never happened before that he jumped off of his mission security. What a coincidence.»

Bo Ostrom: Wissam Al Hasan, after he became head of the ISF intelligence¹ in 2006, was killed [in 2012]. For what motive? Back in 2005, why would he betray his employer Hariri? (02:30): «I have no idea.»

An investigator, Wissam El Eid (01:47), was killed [in 2008], while working on the communications' data related to Hariri's movements.

¹after 2005, the ISF intelligence was "backed" by "14 March", as a counterweight to the Lebanese Armed Forces's intelligence which kept closer links to Syria.

Bo Ostrom: The fake witnesses from the ISF

00:55 When he realized they were lying: they claimed to know too much details, but didn't deliver them.

Bo Ostrom: The alleged suicide [in October 2005] of Ghazi Kanaan, Minister of Interior, was certainly criminal.

00:47 He didn't share useful information.
01:15 But he knew more.
02:10 His death was criminal.

Bo Ostrom: Who were the perpetrators? The improbable Abu Addas theory (Salafis/ Al Qaida)

Bo Ostrom: Who were the perpetrators? The Syrian / Hezbollah theory.

00:45 The key role? «From my point of view, it is possible that it was a Hezbollah group that played the key role (...) because of the tight connection with Syria.»

02:12 The mastermind? «From my point of view (...), the mastermind of the killing of Mr Hariri comes from 🇸🇾Syria. Period.»

END of the thread.

See here for the beginning: https://news.1rj.ru/str/nauala/4729

Reports: Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Judge Re: "Syria and Hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate Mr Hariri and some of his political allies. However there was no evidence that Hezbollah leadership had an involvement in Mr Hariri's murder and there is no direct evidence of Syrian involvement in it."

The STL didn't provide anything new today, as expected.

They are repeating their initial verdict from years ago, with the only evidence of phone calls being intercepted.

The biggest issue is them accusing members of Hezbullah and Syria and not Hezbullah as a whole or the Syrian gov.

Mustafa Badriddine is Hezbullah's #2 commander, if he was really behind it, it wouldn't be his own doing.

Will wait for their report to be published and do a thread

Earlier this morning, IDF Merkava tanks, for the second day in a row, crossed the technical line near "Korom Al Sharaqi" in Mays Al Jabal for 15 minutes before retreating back to the occupied territories.

They deployed smoke screen during their retreat. https://t.co/lbLqa7J4l5