BEIRUT, 16 February 2005 — Lebanese mourned their slain ex-premier yesterday with noisy street processions while the shocked country’s government came under mounting internal and international pressure to bring Rafik Hariri’s assassins to justice.
The United States announced it was recalling its ambassador from Syria amid speculation that Damascus — which Washington has long criticized for exerting too much control over Lebanon — had a hand in Monday’s attack that killed Hariri and 16 others.
In announcing the recall of US ambassador to Syria Margaret Scobey, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush administration felt “profound outrage” over Hariri’s assassination.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, apparently referring to a stern note Scobey delivered to the Syrian Foreign Ministry, said the United States has “made it clear to Syria that we expect Syria to act in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces and the disbanding of militias.”
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif and Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal rejected as “ridiculous” the move to drag Saudi Arabia into the Beirut blast. “It may be for a particular purpose,” Prince Naif told reporters in Riyadh after talks with Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu.
Asked about reports that a group claimed it killed Hariri to take revenge for the killing of terrorists in Saudi Arabia, Prince Naif said, “I believe there is no existence of such a group.” He said he had not received any report on Saudi victims in the blast.
Prince Saud said: “This is silly, as the operation is a crime against the Lebanese people and against Lebanon before anyone else. Hariri’s assassination targets Lebanon and the Lebanese people before anything else.”
“The Lebanese people will be the one to protect the integrity of the investigation into this crime,” said Prince Saud after a meeting with his French counterpart, Michel Barnier. “Let us wait for what the Lebanese judiciary has to say over this crime,” he added.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for Hariri’s killing to be investigated and was called on by the Security Council to provide an urgent report on the “circumstances, causes and consequences” of Hariri’s killing. The Security Council also approved a statement calling on the Lebanese government “to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of this heinous terrorist act.” Lebanon’s interior minister suggested a suicide bomber aided by “international parties” may have been behind it.
International leaders are expected to join tens of thousands at Hariri’s funeral today as the outpouring of grief and anger following the billionaire tycoon’s slaying continued. Officials also were expected to move to protect the country’s currency, which may suffer in the growing political uncertainty.
Dozens of angry Hariri supporters attacked Syrian workers in the former leader’s hometown of Sidon, southern Lebanon, lightly injuring five and shattering windows of a Syrian-owned bakery.
— With input from agencies
