DAMASCUS/BEIRUT/WASHINGTON, 22 October 2005 — A UN report implicating high Syrian and Lebanese officials in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri sent shockwaves in Middle East political circles. Syria denounced the report as “politically biased” while the United States sought a UN follow-up. The document put Syria on a collision course with the UN Security Council, where the United States, Britain and France have been laying the groundwork for crippling economic sanctions against the regime of President Bashar Assad.
While the UN findings did not directly implicate Bashar, the report quoted a witness as saying that Assef Shawkat, Bashar’s brother-in-law and the Syrian military intelligence chief, forced a man to tape a claim of responsibility for Hariri’s killing 15 days before it occurred.
Syria said the report was shocking and its findings were contrary to the expectations that the investigation would be balanced and based on clear and tangible evidence.
“Syria is going to set up a high-ranking committee comprising political and legal experts to study the report and finalize an official reply to be sent to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the matter,” Elias Murad, editor-in-chief of Al-Baath, said.
Syrian satellite TV quoted Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah as saying that “the report is 100 percent politicized as it is based on fabrications and accounts of some witnesses known for being enemies of our country.”
Describing the report, composed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, as an unprofessional political statement, Dakhlallah said that the findings of the probing “is part of a large-scale campaign against our country.”
Earlier, Dakhlallah told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television that Mehlis’ report “lacks proper evidence and testimonies since it was compiled in a way to serve the parties and individuals who intentionally wanted to accuse Syria of Hariri’s assassination.”
Hariri had quarreled with the Syrian leadership and eventually resigned in October 2004, a month after Lebanon’s laws were changed to extend the term of President Emile Lahoud.
The 54-page document claimed Lahoud received a phone call minutes before the Feb. 14 blast from the brother of a prominent member of a pro-Syrian group, who also called one of the four Lebanese generals, Raymond Azar, arrested in the probe.
Lahoud’s office issued a statement “categorically” denying that assertion, saying “there is no truth to it.” Since the arrest of four Lebanese generals in August, anti-Syrian groups have focused on Lahoud and demanded his resignation. Lahoud has refused to step down, saying his hands are clean.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora declined immediate comment on the report, saying he wanted to read it before convening Cabinet to discuss it.
US President George W. Bush called for urgent UN action in response to what he called the “deeply disturbing” report. Bush told reporters during a brief visit to Simi Valley, California, that he had instructed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “to call upon the United Nations to convene a session as quickly as possible to deal with this very serious matter.”
US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said the UN report required a “strong follow-up” by the UN Security Council. Calling the report “historic”, he said: “I don’t think there is any doubt that this is going to require a strong follow-up by the Security Council. We are considering a range of options.”
Bolton also alluded to a controversy over an apparent editing of the Mehlis report that left out the names of several key senior Syrian officials linked to the Hariri murder. “I’ve seen several versions of the report and I don’t understand why there are several versions of the report,” Bolton said.
UN diplomats said the names of Bashar’s brother and brother-in-law and other top Syrians were edited out of the final report.
Mehlis explained at a hastily called news conference that he decided to delete the names when he learned on Thursday morning the report would be made public, because the Syrians had only been identified by a witness interviewed by his investigators.
Since their alleged involvement had not been corroborated, “it could give the wrong impression” of guilt and the presumption of innocence must remain, he said.
“I am amazed at the amount of information that the Mehlis commission was able to amass, and since it did, the results will be taken very seriously,” said Wayne White, former deputy director of the State Department’s Middle East intelligence shop. “The interesting aspect of the report is that it is being viewed quite authoritatively, in the Middle East, and aside from what the UN and the US might want to do, Syria will probably come under pressure to cooperate from other Arab states, as it did following the Hariri assassination, especially from Saudi Arabia and Egypt,” said White, now adjunct scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
