Hizbollah yesterday said it has surrendered data allegedly implicating Israel in the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri to Lebanon’s government and a judicial source said it was turned over to a UN court probing the February 2005 killing.

“Following a meeting on Sunday night between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and (Hizbollah official) Hajj Hussein Khalil, and based on a request by the Prime Minister... Hizbollah official Wafiq Safa yesterday gave Lebanese Prosecutor General Said Mirza the material unveiled by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Israel’s role in the murder” at a news conference earlier this month, Hizbollah said in a statement.

A judicial source told AFP the data was transferred to the Beirut office of the prosecutor of the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon Daniel Bellemare.

Mr Bellemare last Wednesday called on Lebanese authorities to submit all material related to the murder in the possession of Mr Nasrallah, who claims his arch-foe Israel was behind the bomb that killed Hariri and 22 others. The request came days after the Shiite leader produced several undated clips of aerial views of various areas in Lebanon which he alleged were intercepted from unmanned Israeli surveillance drones. The clips included footage of the site of the Hariri assassination in mainly Sunni west Beirut, shot several years before the murder. Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbollah is facing increasing pressure amid snowballing reports that the UN tribunal is set to accuse several of its members.

Mr Nasrallah has warned against implicating his Shiite movement in the Hariri assassination, slamming the UN-backed tribunal as an “Israeli project”.

The murder triggered an international outcry and led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2005 after a deployment of almost three decades.

The killing has been widely blamed on Syria, but Damascus has consistently denied involvement.

The Hague-based tribunal was set up by a UN Security Council resolution in 2007 to find and try suspects in the assassination of Hariri. There are currently no suspects in custody.