BERLIN, 29 August 2005 — Syrian President Bashar Assad pledged his country’s full cooperation with the UN probe into the murder of Lebanese ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, saying in an interview it was in Syria’s best interest to do so.
“We are showing complete cooperation. We are interested in the investigation because we are convinced we will be cleared — that is unless the results are falsified for political reasons,” Assad told German news weekly Der Spiegel in an interview published yesterday.
Hariri was killed in a massive explosion in Beirut on Feb. 14 and many in Lebanon pointed a finger of blame at Syria, which ended a 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April under international pressure in the turbulent aftermath of Hariri’s death.
The Syrian president said his country had nothing to do with the murder and he was convinced the inquiry would clarify this.
It was not immediately clear when the Der Spiegel interview was conducted or whether Assad was responding directly to criticism this week from a United Nations official.
Ibrahim Gambari, the UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, told the UN Security Council on Thursday that Syria was not cooperating with the probe into the killing and had yet to respond to a six-week-old request for documents and interviews with five Syrian witnesses.
Asked whether he could really be sure that Syrian secret services or other compatriots were not involved, Assad said: “I am completely sure. Such an act would require the cooperation of many people and institutions. Had this been the case we would have known about it.”
