WASHINGTON – President Bush on Friday said the U.N. should deal quickly and seriously with a report implicating Syria in the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister, a killing that led to protests and withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after nearly 30 years as overlord.
“The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement,” Bush said.
In Damascus, Syrian leaders dismissed the findings, and the government of President Bashar Assad prepared to fight growing Western sentiment to punish it with economic sanctions.
Imad Moustapha, Syrian ambassador to the United States, said the report was baseless and the Bush administration was motivated by Syria’s opposition to the war in Iraq.
The report was likely to worsen the divisions between Lebanon’s pro- and anti-Syrian groups. Syria’s opponents in Lebanon welcomed the findings as the long-awaited truth about the assassination and about Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs. Pro-Syrian politicians vigorously criticized the findings.
The United Nations investigative report, which Bush called “deeply disturbing,” made a link between high-ranking Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in the car bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 20 others in February.
The findings and the reaction to them marked the latest escalation in tensions between the United States and Syria. U.S. officials have accused Damascus of harboring terrorist groups and permitting fighters to cross into Iraq to attack American, Iraqi and other forces there.
The report, issued Thursday to members of the U.N. Security Council, did not implicate Syrian President Assad directly, but said his government did not cooperate with the inquiry.
At the time of Hariri’s assassination, Syria had about 14,000 troops in Lebanon and essentially controlled the country along with its Lebanese government allies.
Hariri, once partially allied with Syria, had broken with Damascus and begun a political campaign to establish greater Lebanese independence.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
