Major General Ashraf Rifi considered in a statement that “Hezbollah’s threat to Judge Bitar confirms that the regime is too weak to confront its rudeness and crimes, where both of them protect each other’s corruption, crimes and posts.”  He added, “What happened yesterday confirms once again the saying, “The suspicious one almost said arrest me,” and this threat is a declaration of Hezbollah’s responsibility for the crime of the era, as Hezbollah is auto- accusing itself. Protecting Judge Bitar is a priority so that he can continue his work to uncover the crime and hold the major criminal and its agents accountable.

He concluded: “The honorable Lebanese, seekers and advocates of justice are required today to support the families of the port’s victims in their national and humanitarian cause, and demand the protection of the judicial investigative judge, and everyone who works to uncover this crime, whether he is a judge, security or witness.”