DAMASCUS, 11 May 2007 — Syrian President Bashar Assad said yesterday his country would not recognize a UN-mandated international tribunal on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri if it infringes on Syrian sovereignty.
The comments indicated Syria would not cooperate with the court if it indicts Syrian citizens for the killing — setting the stage for a possible confrontation with the UN if the tribunal is created.
Bashar made the comments in a speech to Parliament, where his ruling Baath party nominated him for a second 7-year term in office. In the speech, Bashar also said the Israeli government is too weak to negotiate peace with Syria. A UN probe has implicated Syrian security officials and their allies in the Lebanese security services in the 2005 assassination of Hariri, though Damascus has denied any role.
Bashar said national sovereignty and Syrian laws were paramount. “Any cooperation (with the tribunal) is totally rejected if it requires abandoning national sovereignty,” he told Parliament. A political crisis centering around the tribunal has paralyzed Lebanon, which is torn between the Western-backed government and the opposition led by Syria’s ally Hezbollah.
Approval of the tribunal has been deadlocked and the United States has warned that the Security Council could impose it on its own, bypassing the divided legislature in Beirut. Bashar spoke at the opening session of a new Parliament, formed in elections last month in which opposition parties were not allowed to participate.
