Nasrallah blasts Der Spiegel report

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 26 (UPI) -- The secretary-general of Hezbollah dismissed accusations his group was behind the slaying of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri as Israeli propaganda.

A report in the German news magazine Der Spiegel claims members of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the U.N.-backed court charged with investigating the 2005 assassination of Hariri, uncovered phone records linking Hezbollah to the plot.

Der Spiegel claims its investigations of internal court documents, along with unquoted and anonymous sources, show that Hezbollah provided planning assistance to those who carried out the attack, which killed 20 others in a massive blast in downtown Beirut.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in statements published by Hezbollah's al-Manar television network, said the allegations were on par with the prelude to the 30-year civil war in Lebanon, adding it was a sign Israel and its Western allies were seeking to divide Lebanon along sectarian lines.

"Those who fabricated (the Der Spiegel report) want to create sedition and conflict between the Sunnis and the Shiites, mainly Hezbollah," he said.

His comments came during a speech in which he defended the Hezbollah position as a viable opposition movement intent on securing the solidarity of Lebanon.

"We offered our blood for Lebanon and therefore, I tell the Sunnis, Shiites, Druze and Christians of Lebanon: Your blood is our blood, your flesh is our flesh, your fate is our fate," he said.

The report comes weeks before Lebanon votes in parliamentary elections, where the March 8 slate, which includes Hezbollah, is expected to take a slim majority over the pro-Western March 14 coalition.