BEIRUT, Dec 29: Prominent Lebanese MP Walid Jumblatt has accused the Hezbollah of being involved in a string of political assassinations, according to an interview aired on Arab television.

The accusations marked the first time that Jumblatt, a leading MP from the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, pointed the finger at the Tehran- and Damascus-backed group which is spearheading an opposition protest to topple the government.

“In one manner or another, they (Hezbollah) are implicated in certain attacks, if not all,” the MP told Al-Arabiya television late Thursday.

“The fog over my eyes dissolved once and for all after the assassination of journalist and MP Gibran Tueni on Dec 12, 2005,” said the Druze chief, who has previously accused Syria of being involved in the killings.

Six prominent anti-Syrian figures have been slain in the past two years. A UN investigation into the 2005 bomb blast that killed ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri has implicated senior Syrian officials and Lebanese accomplices.

Syria has denied involvement.

Jumblatt equally accused Hezbollah of fearing an extension of the UN probe into Hariri’s assassination that could cover other bomb and shooting attacks against outspoken Damascus critics.

“Hezbollah pulled out of the government saying they were in favour of an international tribunal (in the Hariri slaying) but against any extension of the probe,” Jumblatt said, referring to the resignations of six pro-Syrian ministers, including two from Hezbollah, last month.

“That is because in one way or another, they are implicated in the attacks that killed Tueni, Samir Kassir, Georges Hawi (all in 2005) and Pierre Gemayel (2006) and which targeted journalist May Chidiac and minister Elias Murr (2005),” Jumblatt said.

Echoing an accusation voiced by anti-Syrian Communications Minister Marwan Hamadeh on Thursday, Jumblatt said the “car bomb that targeted Marwan (on October 1, 2004) was prepared in the southern suburbs of Beirut”, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Hariri’s assassination “was prepared high up”, Jumblatt said in an apparent reference to Syria, “but the other crimes, or some of them, took place here” in Lebanon.

“There, I don’t want to say more, but I said it.” The Western-backed government is in the throes of political paralysis after the resignations of six members of the 24-member cabinet in mid-November followed by the assassination of anti-Syrian industry minister Gemayel.

The pro-Syrian opposition and its Christian allies want the installation of a new unity government and the resignation of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora’s cabinet.—AFP