Hezbollah's leader said Friday the group was not concerned with the verdict of a U.N.-backed tribunal over the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri due on August 18.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said if any members of the four members of the group are indicted, Hezbollah would stand by their innocence.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon located outside The Hague, Netherlands, was due to give a verdict in the trial of four men on August 7 but it was postponed after the massive blast that rocked Beirut last week.
"We do not feel concerned by the STL's decisions," Nasrallah said in a televised address. "For us it will be as if no decision was ever announced," he said. "If our brothers are unjustly sentenced, as we expect, we will maintain their innocence."
Nasrallah has repeatedly expressed similar views completely rejecting the jurisdiction and independence of the court, which is based in The Netherlands.
The slain former prime minister's son Saad Hariri, himself a former premier, is expected in The Hague for the verdict.
The four defendants went on trial in 2014 on charges including the "intentional homicide" of Hariri and 21 others, attempted homicide of 226 people wounded in the bombing, and conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.
Nasrallah warned that "some will attempt to exploit the STL to target the resistance and Hezbollah" but urged his supporters to be "patient" when the verdict is announced.
Reuters
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