Beirut - Joy engulfed the families Wednesday of four Lebanese generals who were held for nearly four years without charges over the 2005 assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri, after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (SFL) called for their release.

The four generals are Jamil Sayyed, the General Security chief and probably the most powerful Lebanese under Syrian dominance, police chief Ali Hajj, army intelligence chief Raymond Azar, and the head of the Presidential Guard Brigade, Mustafa Hamdan.

Shortly after the decision was announced from the The Hague, fireworks were fired into the air from areas where the four generals live.

"We are very happy by this decision.. this is the real truth that we have been waiting for the generals because we knew they were innocent," the wife of general Jamil Seyyed told the German Press Agency dpa.

Samar al Hajj, wife of General Ali al Hajj, told reporters infront the Roumieh central jail, where the four generals were held, that "they (Four generals) are not suspects? and they will gain their freedom soon."

She said the release will be after all judicial and security arrangements are done and it should be in less than 24 hours.

The son of Rafik Hariri, Saad, is scheduled to give a press conference later Wednesday regarding the STL decision.

Near Lebanon's central jail in Roumieh, heavy security measures were adopted by the Lebanese army and police to facilitate the release of the generals.

The decision of the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon STL had been tensely anticipated in Lebanese political circles as the court has been at the center of a tug-of-war between Lebanon's pro- and anti- Syrian rival factions. (dpa)