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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (7749)	3/26/2005 1:22:11 PM
From: rrufff	Respond to of 22250

Hariri report points finger at Syria Nicolas Rothwell, Middle East correspondent March 26, 2005 PRESSURE for Syria to complete its troop pullout from Lebanon mounted yesterday as the UN released a devastating initial report on last month's assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut. The keenly awaited report, produced by forensic police experts, blamed the Syrian and Lebanese security services for "negligence" and cited reports of physical threats made against the dead man by Syria's President. The findings of the UN team complete the international isolation of the Syrian regime, and stop only just short of directly attributing the murder of Hariri to the Damascus Government and its all-powerful intelligence networks inside Lebanon. The report also calls for a fuller inquiry and it has already prompted a change of heart by Lebanon's staunchly pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, who now says he too wants a detailed international investigation of the killing. Beirut is still festooned with banners demanding "the truth" about Hariri's death, the tent city of pro-independence demonstrators remains camped in Martyrs Square beside Hariri's tomb, and even in Shia regions of the country, traditionally inclined to support the Syrian military presence, posters of Hariri and demands for a full inquiry can be seen. In this dynamic atmosphere, Lebanese politicians are still struggling to form an interim government, while regional and Western envoys and intermediaries attempt to keep control of a society that is now poised between apprehension and anger. Several small bombs have exploded in Christain regions of Lebanon in the past week, alerts are now common across Beirut, and a large explosive device was defused yesterday in the district of Ain-Al-Remaneh. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said yesterday he had been told by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Damascus would withdraw soldiers and intelligence forces directly and completely, and that a full schedule would be announced within a week. The weekend ahead will be a stern test for Lebanon's opposition leaders, its complacent political establishment and the street protesters. Yesterday marked the 40th day since the Sunni Muslim Hariri's death, and the close of the traditional Islamic period of mourning. Large demonstrations are expected in the days to come. Caretaker prime minister Omar Karame appears to have failed in his bid to form a broad-based interim government, and there is informed speculation that this task will now pass to former economy minister Adnan Qassar, an intimate of the opposition's main figure, Druze chief Walid Jumblatt. The UN team's conclusions that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence showed "systematic negligence" in failing to protect Hariri will come as no surprise to the mass of Lebanese, who believe the security services had the former prime minister killed. The finding that some evidence at the bombing site was removed, falsified or destroyed has also long been circulated. But the description of the threats made by the Syrian leader to Hariri in a face-to-face meeting last year are chilling, and will serve to remind Lebanese from all communities that hard power has lain behind Syria's long domination of their political landscape. theaustralian.news.com.au