One man has been found guilty and three others have been acquitted of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, in 2005.

Four members of Hezbollah; Salim Jalil Ayaash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra have never been located and were tried in absentia. 

A fifth suspect, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, was dropped from proceedings after being killed in Syria in 2016.

Ayyash was found guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, murdering Hariri, murdering 21 others and attempting to murder 226 more in the suicide car bombing on 14 February, 2005.

The case against the four men was based on mobile phone data from phones allegedly used by the accused to plot and carry out the attack. 

On Friday, Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, stated that he would stand by the innocence of the individuals accused, regardless of the verdict.

Earlier on Tuesday, a judge ruled that the Syrian government and Hezbollah leaders were not involved in the plot to murder Hariri.

The verdict was delivered by The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is backed by the UN, in a village on the outskirts of The Hague, 15 years after Hariri died in a massive car bombing.

In his summary of the investigation, Judge David Re said he and other judges who had pored over details of the case were "of the view that Syria and Hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate Mr. Hariri, and some of his political allies."

However, he added that there was insufficient evidence that “Hezbollah leadership had any involvement in Mr. Hariri’s murder, and there is no direct evidence of Syrian involvement in it.”

Hariri, who was then an MP for the country's opposition party, was travelling in a motorcade travelling past Beirut's St George Hotel when a bomb hidden in a van exploded. He died instantly, while 21 other people were also killed.

The 60-year-old billionaire had long called for the Syrian military, who had been stationed in Lebanon since the country's civil war in 1976, to leave the country. 

In the aftermath of his death, thousands of protestors took to the streets to display their anger against the pro-Syrian government and accuse Syria of playing a part in his death. Weeks later, the government resigned and Syria withdrew its troops that April.