Beirut: On day one of what was a highly emotional testimony, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora revealed on Monday that the slain leader Rafik Hariri had leant on his shoulder and sobbed over insults directed at him by the Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

Siniora confirmed the widely known claim that the Syrian threatened to “break Lebanon over Hariri’s head” if the liberal minded and gregarious official would not bend to Al Assad’s diktats.

Siniora returned to the stand at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on Tuesday when he dropped a bombshell, affirming that Hariri confided in him that he had discovered several assassination attempts by Hezbollah against him.

“Hariri was driving his car and I was sitting next to him when he suddenly turned towards me and said: ‘You know Fouad, by now we have discovered several assassination attempts by Hezbollah against me’.”

Five Hezbollah members have been charged with plotting Hariri’s February 14, 2005 assassination in a massive explosion on the Beirut seafront though Beirut authorities have failed to arrest them, while party leader Hassan Nasrallah has vowed that they never will. Their trial is being conducted in absentia and Hezbollah denies involvement in the murder. On several occasions, Nasrallah has denounced the UN Security Council mandated STL as a conspiracy by two arch-enemies — the US and Israel.

Irrespective of Beirut’s inabilities to arrest the accused, a series of testimonies revealed the level of pressure imposed by Syria on Lebanon during the latter’s three decades-long military domination of Lebanon. Siniora shared his belief that without the STL, additional assassinations were likely, although ongoing investigations have yet to shed any light on a single crime.

Siniora added a fresh insight into the true motivations that may well have prompted Damascus to impose its iron will on Beirut. In his testimony, he described Hariri as a “charismatic” leader whose opponents sought to “sabotage” political achievements — reconciliation — as well as his liberal policies.

Al Assad loathed Hariri for exuding charisma, which earned the Lebanese attention throughout the world, and resented the slain leader’s intelligence and contacts that brought in backing and financial support. Siniora emphasised to the court that the former premier’s visits abroad upset his opponents, declaring: “Every time he made an achievement during these visits such as building new relations … Hariri used to say God help us when we return to Beirut.”

Damascus literally feared that a whiff of liberalism in Lebanon would spill over into Syria, a country run on the Soviet/Russian model of market economy, with very limited freedoms.