Nine years after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a seismic event in Lebanese history, the trial of four men accused of his killing opened Thursday in a special United Nations-backed court. However, the stand at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague was empty, with the suspects -- alleged associates of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah -- still on the run. Billionaire statesman Hariri was killed in February 2005 when a bomb struck his motorcade near the Beirut seafront. The blast ripped apart his armored car and destroyed the motorcade, killing 21 other people and wounding more than 200 others.
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Son of slain premier Hariri says start of trial "a day for Lebanon"
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Four suspects are being tried in absentia in The Hague
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The 2005 assassination polarized Lebanon and led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops
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Earlier, a bomb killed three people and injured 26 in the city of Hermel in northeast Lebanon
@placeholder has been targeted before, with missiles launched from Syria, where Hezbollah has sent fighters and military advisers.