Last update - 00:00 25/11/2006
Lebanese gov't approves creation of tribunal for Hariri assassination
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press
Lebanon's government on Saturday approved the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri despite objections by Hezbollah and the country's pro-Syrian president.
Though widely expected, the government's approval was bound to further deepen the country's political crisis and spark mass street demonstrations threatened by Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its allies to topple the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
"This decision is not (meant) as a provocation against anyone. On the contrary, it is aimed at protecting everybody," Siniora said, according to a statement read by Information Minister Ghazi Aridi after the tribunal's approval.
Siniora, according to Aridi, stressed that the creation of the international tribunal would help in uncovering the truth.
An ongoing UN investigation into the February 2005 truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others has said the killing's complexity suggests the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in the assassination. Damascus has denied having any role in the killing.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday spoke on the phone with former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel, and offered his condolences on the death of his son Pierre Gemayel, who was gunned down Tuesday in Beirut.
According to sources, Nasrallah spoke of his son who was killed in a confrontation with Israeli troops, and Gemayel expressed his hope that Pierre will be the last Lebanese citizen killed and that Lebanon's political crisis will come to an end.
The conversation was significant in that it was the first time Hezbollah has expressed sympathy for the pain and loss felt by their political rivals in Lebanon.
Syria has indicated it might not cooperate with such a tribunal, saying it was not officially consulted on the plan, a letter revealed Friday.
An ongoing United Nations investigation into the February 2005 truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others has said the killing's complexity suggested the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in the assassination.
Syria, which has denied involvement, said in a letter circulated Friday at UN headquarters that the tribunal should not be assembled until after the investigation is finished.
It announced that hasty adoption of the court's statute "will firmly establish our belief that Syria has no connection with this tribunal."
Syria said it continues to cooperate with the investigators.
The letter, addressed to Secretary-General of the UN Kofi Annan, was dated Tuesday, the same day the UN Security Council gave Annan the go-ahead to ratify an agreement between the UN and the Lebanese government to create a tribunal located outside Lebanon with a majority of international judges and an international prosecutor.
The Lebanese government must now make a final decision on establishing the tribunal.
Syria, which was forced to end a 29-year military presence in Lebanon amid protests over Hariri's killing, said it had not seen the plan and that its views had not been sought.
"In the event that the statute of the tribunal is adopted, unacceptable transgressions that undermine the sovereignty of certain member states and the rights of their subjects are likely to transpire," Syria wrote - apparently before the Security Council authorized Annan the same day to ratify the court.
The Syrian mission to the United Nations said no officials were available for comment Friday afternoon.
On Wednesday, the Security Council approved a request from Lebanon for UN investigators already probing Hariri's assassination to assist the government's investigation of the latest assassination of an anti-Syrian Cabinet minister.
The council acted just hours after Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a letter informing members that Siniora wanted "technical assistance" from the UN investigation commission in his government's investigation of Tuesday's killing of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel.
On November 13, Siniora's Council of Ministers approved the tribunal plan but pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud has challenged the ministers' decision. Siniora has called for a Cabinet session on Saturday to approve the protocol sent by the United Nations to set up an international tribunal.
The first UN chief investigator, Germany's Detlev Mehlis, said the complexity of Hariri's killing suggested the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in Hariri's assassination.
In one report, Mehlis implicated Brig. Gen. Assaf Shawkat, Syria's military intelligence chief and the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
His successor, Belgian Judge Serge Brammertz, has shied away from naming anyone but has described a very complex operation and said he is following many new leads.
Four Lebanese generals, top pro-Syrian security chiefs under Lahoud including his Presidential Guard commander, have been under arrest for 14 months, accused of involvement in Hariri's murder.
Pro-government groups in Lebanon, who accuse Syria in the slaying of Gemayel and other anti-Syrian figures, have warned that more government ministers may be targeted for assassination to deny the Cabinet the legal two-thirds quorum of 16 needed to approve the court. Syria has denied the accusations and condemned the killing.