Video Shows Hussam Hussam in Custody of Syrian Rebels
A YouTube video uploaded on Sunday showed Hussam Hussam -- who has claimed to be a witness in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri – in the custody of a group of Syrian rebels.
The group said it was part of the “brigades” that “stormed” the Syrian capital Damascus.
In the video, Hussam again identified himself as a witness in the Hariri case and said he wants to be sent to Beirut where he would unveil “big surprises that no one would have ever expected.”
Also in the video, the leader of the armed group addresses former premier Saad Hariri.
“In my name and in the name of the revolutionaries of Damascus and Syria, we will send you a gift: Hussam Hussam,” the rebel commander says, addressing Hariri.
In a phone interview with LBCI television, the same rebel commander, who identified himself as Abu Ali al-Doumani, said Hussam was captured at a flying checkpoint manned by Syrian rebels in the Damascus neighborhood of Mazzeh.
Al-Doumani told LBCI that his group was in contact with ex-PM Saad Hariri and that it intends to hand over Hussam to Lebanon.
In August 2010, Hussam confirmed claims by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that an Israeli agent identified as Ghassan al-Jidd was present at the bombing scene on the Beirut seafront in February 2005.
Hussam told Hizbullah’s al-Manar TV station that al-Jidd was near HSBC Bank -- which is only 400 meters away from the blast scene -- when the bombing went off.
Hussam had claimed he had been coerced into fingering Syria in Hariri's murder.
The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon tasked with probing Hariri’s assassination said Thursday it had set a provisional date in March next year to begin a trial over the 2005 bomb attack.
The trial was tentatively scheduled to start on March 25, 2013, the STL said in a statement, although the four defendants remain at large.
In June 2011, the Netherlands-based court issued arrest warrants for four members of Hizbullah: Mustafa Badreddine, Salim Ayyash, Hussein Anaissi, and Assad Sabra.
Interpol has also issued a "red notice" on the suspects, but so far the Lebanese authorities have failed to arrest them and Hizbullah has denied responsibility.
Nasrallah has dismissed the tribunal as a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy and vowed that no member of Hizbullah would ever be found or arrested.
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