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"Israeli" Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says Tel Aviv has contributed to a US-sponsored tribunal probing the murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri, a report says.
Lieberman has recently acknowledged "Israel's" "cooperation" with Hariri's tribunal, also known as the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), and said that Tel Aviv has been transparent and open to the investigation, Lebanon's Al Akhbar newspaper reported Friday.
26/11/2010 The 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Martyr Rafik Hariri was a "joint venture between Syria and Hezbollah that served both their interests, and the UN probe into the murder is wrongly absolving Syria of guilt,” the Israeli daily Haaretz said Friday, citing Western intelligence sources.The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is reportedly set to implicate Hezbollah members in the assassination. But the Western sources said the murder "had in fact been a joint venture between Syria and Hizbullah that served both their interests."
"There's no doubt Syrian President Bashar Assad was involved in the assassination," Haaretz quoted one source as saying.
"Hariri had launched a process aimed at kicking the Syrians out of Lebanon, he was running for reelection as prime minister and was thought to have a good chance of winning. Above all, he recruited American, French and Saudi support for the moderate axis in Lebanon. Assad had every reason to get rid of him," the source explained.
Haaretz went on to say that Abdel Halim Khaddam, who had served as Assad's deputy, related that Assad had openly made a “threat” against Hariri during their last meeting before the murder, saying, "If anyone tries to throw us out of Lebanon, we'll smash Lebanon over his head."
It said that in October 2005, “Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan was found dead in his office. Kanaan had presided over Syrian intelligence in Lebanon for two decades and was considered Syria's strong man in Beirut,” Haaretz went on to say.
It said Damascus claimed he had committed suicide, but Western intelligence agencies believe he was “killed” by the Syrian regime because he knew too much about Hariri's murder. It is hard to believe, Western sources said, that anyone could have committed suicide by shooting himself three times in the back.
26/11/2010 “An indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri will reportedly be issued Dec. 2, as assured by Lebanese Ambassador to Netherlands Zaidan as-Saghir,” Ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Friday citing knowledgeable sources.
The sources said that the Lebanese foreign ministry had received a notification from Lebanon’s Embassy in the Netherlands that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will issue its indictment on Thursday, December 2.
26/11/2010 Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem on Friday warned of the ramifications of a war with the Israeli enemy. "There is no doubt that closing the horizons to peace may lead to a possible war. This option always exists in our region, as Israel usually outrageously evades the commitment to peace," he told Russian newspaper Moscow News.
"I want to stress that a new war will not result in a winner and loser," the Syrian foreign minister added. "Everyone will lose because the existing advanced military technology can cause great damage, even for the side with huge military power."
Moallem was asked about the chances for peace negotiations with Israel, four days after the Knesset approved a law requiring the government to hold a referendum on any withdrawal from territories under full Israeli sovereignty.
"The negotiations on the Syrian channel are possible as far as we are concerned if there is a partner which seeks peace – something which does not exist at the moment. The negotiations must take into account a full return to the Golan up to the June 4 1967 border. This matter is not negotiable, and is the basis for a dialogue on the other issues stemming from it."
Damascus harshly criticized the newly approved referendum law on Tuesday. A Foreign Ministry source told the official SANA news agency that "the decision amounts to contempt of international law and the position and desire of the entire international community, which confirmed in the past and still maintains that east Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights are occupied Arab territory."
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Uprooted Palestinian
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