The United Nations has determined that Syria had
threatened the life of the late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
A UN report said Syrian President Bashar Assad had personally threatened
Hariri and that Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs contributed to the
assassination of Lebanese premier. But the 19-page report said it could not
find a direct Syrian link to the killing of Hariri on Feb. 14.
"It is clear that the assassination took place in a political and
security context marked by an acute polarization around the Syrian influence
in Lebanon and a failure of the Lebanese state to provide adequate
protection for its citizens," the report said.
Instead, the author of the report, Irish deputy police commissioner
Patrick Fitzgerald called for an investigation by an independent commission
to determine the killers of Hariri. But the report said Syria "bears primary
responsibility for the political tension that preceded the assassination."
"Lebanon agrees to the creation of an international commission of
inquiry if the Security Council takes such a decision to uncover the truth
in the assassination of Rafik Hariri," Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud
Hamoud said on Saturday.
The report said that in their last meeting Assad had threatened Hariri
with physical harm unless he ended his campaign for the withdrawal of Syrian
troops from Lebanon. Fitzgerald said Damascus refused to provide details of
the Assad-Hariri meeting, which took place in mid-2004.
"There was a distinct lack of commitment on the part of the Lebanese
authorities to investigate the crime effectively," the report said.
The report said Hariri met Assad in Damascus in an effort to convince
him not to extend the term of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. Assad, who
had pledged that he would not support such an extension, said he had changed
his mind and Lahoud was the personal representative of the Syrian president.
"Opposing him is tantamount to opposing Assad himself," the report
quoted Assad as saying. [Assad] would rather break Lebanon over the heads of
Hariri and Jumblatt than see his word in Lebanon broken."
Hariri was said to have been killed by an explosion in which a ton of
TNT was detonated. The report said the explosion was most likely above
ground.
The report said the Lebanese government demonstrated "stark negligence"
in protecting Hariri. Fitzgerald said Hariri's security detail reduced from
40 to eight people after he left office.
Lebanese authorities had little interest in investigating Hariri's
death, the report said. The report cited the destruction of evidence and the
failure to cordon off the scene of the explosion.
On March 24, two senior U.S. officials – Elizabeth Cheney, deputy
assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, and John Hanna, an
aide to Vice President Richard Cheney – met Syrian opposition leaders. The
Syrian opposition included Reform Party of Syria leader Farid Ghadry, who
was said to have called for the toppling of Assad.
