On Friday morning, my Beirut apartment shook to the sound of an explosion. My roommate and I made our way to the site of the blast downtown with the help of a man on a street corner who, pointing in two different directions, remarked drily: “If you want to see the bomb go that way. If you want to go shopping go that way.”

To be sure, such violence has long been a part of the Lebanese landscape. So too have the self-appointed tribunals that spring up in the aftermath of political assassinations.

In this particular instance, former prime ministers Fouad Siniora and Saad Hariri of the March 14 coalition have once again showcased their omniscience by extrajudicially indicting Hezbollah for the bombing, which killed, among seven others, ex-finance minister Mohammad Shatah, a former adviser to both men.