Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri made a verbal attack on the Shiite militant group Hezbollah on Tuesday and said its possession of arms was at the root of conflict in Lebanon.
Hariri, raising the intensity of his opposition to Hezbollah, which with its allies toppled his government in January, said indictments issued by the UN-backed tribunal seeking the killers of his father and which accuses four members of the Hezbollah, would never be changed.
"If [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah comes out in 300 press conferences, [he] will not change the content of the indictments," he told a Lebanese television channel from Paris.
"There are people accused [in the killings] and they must be put on trial," he said.
Hariri said Lebanon "will pay the price" for Hezbollah's refusal to turn over four of its members indicted in the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father.
Hariri described current Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who was Hezbollah's choice for the position, as an "agent" of the Shiite militant group and urged the government to look for the wanted men.