DAMASCUS, 21 November 2005 — Syria was yesterday studying the outcome of talks between a Syrian envoy and the head of a UN probe into the murder of Lebanese ex-Premier Rafik Hariri over where Syrian officials can be questioned.
“Damascus is studying the discussions the two men had,” a Foreign Ministry source told AFP without elaborating.
Riad Daudi, a counselor at the Syrian Foreign Ministry, met UN probe chief Detlev Mehlis in Barcelona on Friday in a bid to agree on a venue for the questioning of six Syrian officials.
Mehlis reportedly wants to interview the officials at UN offices in Lebanon over Hariri’s killing in a February bomb blast, but Syria opposes a Lebanese venue.
Ahead of Friday’s meeting, a Syrian official reportedly said Mehlis and Daudi would examine a Syrian proposal for the questioning to be done at the headquarters of a UN observer force in the Golan Heights.
Mehlis reportedly wants to question officials including President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, who heads Syrian military intelligence, former domestic intelligence chief Bahjat Suleiman, the former head of military intelligence in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazaleh, and his deputy Jameh Jameh. The UN commission wants the questioning to take place without any Syrian government officials present.
Syria’s economic newspaper Al-Iqtissadiya meanwhile accused Hariri’s son Saad Hariri and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora of plotting against Damascus.
“Saad Hariri is working to achieve an international resolution denouncing Syrian intervention in Lebanese internal affairs, following Washington’s orders,” wrote the weekly.
Saad heads the largest bloc in Lebanon’s Parliament following elections earlier this year, the first to be held after Syrian troops quit in April, ending a near 30-year presence. “American orders aim to increase Security Council pressure on Syria before imposing economic sanctions,” it said, accusing Siniora of “also wanting to plot” against Syria.
