DAMASCUS, 2 November 2005 — Syria pledged to cooperate with the UN inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri yesterday but took aim at the UN resolution with defiant officials and hundreds of Syrians protesting in the aftermath of the resolution while maintaining Damascus’ innocence.
Hundreds of Syrians demonstrated outside the US Embassy here, condemning the resolution that Syria has dismissed as politically motivated. “We consider the resolution to be very negative toward Syria, and as it is unanimous this makes it more problematic,” a Foreign Ministry official said of Monday’s Security Council vote.
“It is accusatory and adopts the assumptions that (chief UN investigator Detlev) Mehlis had arrived at which we consider hasty and not objective enough,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. Mehlis, the German prosecutor conducting the UN inquiry, has pointed to Syrian security officials as suspects in the Feb. 14 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.
An outraged and defiant Syrian press yesterday lashed out at the international community accusing it of adopting a double-standard policy and conspiring against Damascus.
The country’s state-run newspapers, however, urged their government to work hard and foil a “certain international plot against the nation” through offering full cooperation with the international inquiry probing the killing of Hariri and fortifying the domestic front by boosting national unity.
“This is not the first time Syria is facing such tremendous pressure that is well-prepared and programmed by Zionist circles under various brands and at different positions and places in the world,” Dr. Fayez Al-Sayegh, editor in chief of the Al Thawra Newspaper said in a front-page editorial.
Al-Sayegh believed that Syria would be able to “pass the difficult test” and overcome the serious hurdles created by the newly adopted Security Council resolution.
“National unity is the password through which we can move into the world of immunity and victory,” he added.
Omar Jaftly wrote in Tishreen daily that the attitude of some world powers blaming Syria for failure to cooperate with the UN inquiry is “sheer hypocrisy” that mirrors the clear US hegemony on the United Nations.
Syria denies any role in Hariri’s murder and has launched its own investigation into his killing. It has also vowed to cooperate with the UN investigation team.
Tightening the diplomatic noose around Syria, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the council that the resolution “made it clear that failure to comply with these demands will lead to serious consequences from the international community.”
But unanimity was achieved only after the United States, France and Britain, sponsors of the resolution, agreed to drop an explicit threat of economic sanctions against Syria.
Hariri’s son, Saad, welcomed the resolution as “the world’s gift” to his slain father and to the Lebanese. “We call on everyone to think deeply about the meaning of this Security Council consensus and not to waste a chance to ... ensure the international probe reaches the full truth and quick steps are taken against all culprits,” he said in a statement.
In Lebanon, President Emile Lahoud, a staunch Syrian ally, said in a statement he hoped the resolution would provide “solid evidence that points to the planners, executors and those who helped carry out the crime.”
— Additional input from agencies
