prime minister rafik hariri a court in the hague said salim orchestrated the 22005 operation to kill riri with a massive truck bomb but the tribunals cleared 3 other defendants finding they had no links to hezbollah leadership or aries assassination up ended life in lebanon setting the stage for years of unrest. a suicide truck bomb blasts ripped through beirut some valentine's day 2005 an explosion so powerful it was hurt and felt across the city 22 people lost their lives that day. including the targets of the attack. lebanon's former prime minister rafiq hariri it was an assassination that transformed lebannon removing an influential sunni muslim leader and allowing shiite forces led by the militant group hizbollah to come to dominate lebanese political life now over 15 years later a guilty verdict in connection with the killings trial chamber therefore finds mr guilty beyond reasonable doubt as a copa traitor of the intentional homicide of mr rafik hariri the same evidence also establishes beyond reasonable doubt his knowledge and his intention to commit the intentional homicide of 21

riri did nothing to rein in hezbollah then during a state visit to the saudi capital riyadh in november 27th team he suddenly announced his resignation in a statement that completely contradicted his previous political line. there. i am stepping down because i cannot accept disappointing the lebanese people. over the last few years and decades with its arsenal has repeatedly presented us with a fait accompli. that is sad enough. i'm going to walk but then it claims that these weapons are for the resistance when in fact they are being used against our brothers in syria and yemen even against lebanese. many years. i'm 19. so this day it remains unclear whether hariri was forced to step down but it took the intervention of french president emmanuel fall before horary was able to leave saudi arabia once back in lebanon he rescinded his resignation. political machinations only served to boost has been lost position a few months later the group had a strong showing in elections and a government led by hariri as ball law had 2 cabinet posts for the 1st time. because the birth to this is the on

asked was involved in the killing according quit 3 other defendants however the former sunni leader riri was killed along with 21 other people in a bomb attack in beirut in 2005 the international court in the hague tried the 4 suspects in the censure they are members of the shiite militant group hezbollah which is now part of lebanon's government the islamist group denies any involvement the verdict was supposed to be given at the beginning of this month but was delayed because of the deadly explosion at beirut's airport. well for more on 'd the verdict let's cross over to our correspondent. who's been following developments from brussels what more can you tell us about the man who's been convicted some of . the 56 year olds terry has been convicted in absentia and the judge just said they were satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that he possessed one of the 6 mobile phones used by the assassination team and now the interesting detail here is that the evidence also a step lish that mr ayyash had affiliations to his thought but despite the fact that he belonged to a smaller writings and d

the car used in the attack and coordinated surveillance of her riri beforehand the 3 other hezbollah members well they were acquitted because of a lack of evidence none were in court as denies involvement and has refused to hand the men over the judges while hezbollah as leaders and the syrian government might have motives to kill harry there was no direct evidence they done that but they say the nature of the killing was clear the attack was an act of terrorism that was designed to spread fear among lebanese population it was committed for political and not personal reasons the trial chamber is of the view that syria and hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate mr hariri and some of his political allies however there was no evidence that this hezbollah leadership had any involvement in mr hariri is murder and there is no direct evidence of syrian involvement in it well the former lebanese prime minister hariri says his family except the court ruling over his father's killing but the punishment must still be served we had like many presidents and many from the prime ministers were

irish was one of 4 suspects tried in absentia the 2005 car bomb attack in beirut which killed her riri and 21 other people judges in a un backed tribunals said there was insufficient evidence against the other defendants hariri is remembered as a key figure in efforts to rebuild lebanon after the civil war ended in 1990 more state employed workers have joined protests against bellary says the president and the election many say was wearing out thousands of people have demonstrated against alexander lukashenko for 10 consecutive days since his re-election for the 6th time the government has now admitted it some police officers have quit in protest while troops have been sent to the country's borders. the u.s. postal service says suspending cost cutting measures after control the sea over a mail in ballots for this year's presidential election the country's postmaster general had warned that changes could make postal votes late meaning they would speak out it. and those but he said lines here on al-jazeera do stay with us tries is coming next but why. in late august joe biden and donald

i wanted to show you this camera from atlas peak to lake bear riri -- berryessa. a part of that complex of fires that have been sparked because of the lightning that we had the past couple of days so people are being forced to evacuate as well as dealing with the unhealthy air quality. be prepared to leave immediately if you are in some of those areas and then outside of this we are having to wear masks throughout the day because of the unhealthy air quality. we'll talk about that in the hot temperatures on tap for today and, mike, how's it looking around the bay area? >> there are closures because of the various complex fires. avoid the areas but i have three tra traffic alerts. show you at the top of the screen, west 80, an overturned rig there. few lanes blocked out of fairfield. just north of there, lnu lightning fire. and two alerts clearing up and the bay bridge toll plaza with a backup there and a rig that's stuck in the middle of the freeway at whipple road. that's not a trafbfic alert. highway 1 is closed south of pescadero with the fire you're talking ab

2 new names of 2 prime ministers are being speculated at the moment we understand the 1st one is a riri so that would be something like out with the new and in with the old because he only resigned in january under enormous international pressure because of the collapse of the lebanese army its banking sector and its currency he was replaced by her son who has now resigned another name being suggested is now off he's a former diplomat and a current judge of the international court of justice he is what a lot of independent groups he might be more happy with but he's certainly more pro western and in the past when his name has been suggested he's been rejected by hezbollah and hezbollah aligned parties so it seems negotiations going on at the moment but certainly we'll hear the official news of the resignation in an hour from now but if we're looking at live pictures i believe not too far from way you are of protest is gathering a lot of people there prepared to tear gas goggles mosques quite a few people out there on the streets have had 2 nights of protests the past 2 evenings what are