"All you have to do is read the history of Lebanon to understand that there are no solutions in Lebanon without Syria,"

Via Friday-Lunch-Club

AFP:

"....."All you have to do is read the history of Lebanon to understand that there are no solutions in Lebanon without Syria,... Officials in Lebanon cannot be against Syria," Makdisi told AFP. "That is just not an option, and Hariri has realised that."

Hariri initially accused his then-foe Syria of the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed his father, ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, and 22 others in Beirut, at a time when Damascus retained a tight grip over Lebanon.... on Monday, the prime minister was quoted as saying he had erred. "At some point, we made a mistake, ... At one stage, we accused Syria ... That was a political accusation, and that political accusation is over."

Hariri's retraction, which one Lebanese daily dubbed a "political bomb," comes amid high tension in Lebanon over pending indictments by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a UN-backed probe into the assassination.

Preliminary reports by a committee of The Hague-based tribunal concluded there was evidence implicating Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services in Hariri's murder, but there are no suspects in custody.

The tribunal is reportedly set to implicate Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah in the murder.....

Fadia Kiwan, head of the political science department at Saint Joseph University, argues that one party stands to gain from Hariri's political metamorphosis: Syria. "After a difficult phase from 2005 to 2007, Syria's power is once again consecrated," Kiwan told AFP. "This will also put Syria's allies in Lebanon in a position of even more power. "We should have expected this position since Hariri's first visit to Syria," she added. "It's a natural stop in changing his political path."

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