SYRIA yesterday condemned the UN report into the assassination of the former Lebanese Premier, Hariri – a report which pointed the finger of blame at Syria, without any proof – as a ‘political statement against Syria based on allegations by witnesses known for their hostility to Syria.’
Mehdi Dakhlallah, Syria’s information minister added about the report: ‘It is 100 per cent politically biased’ and ‘far from the truth.’
The UN report is not concerned about objective truth but with probabilities. It states: ‘There is probable cause to believe that the decision to assassinate could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials and could not have been further organised without the collusion of their counterparts in the Lebanese security services.’
The report does not ask the leading question ‘who gained from the assassination’ because the answer is not one that the UN and its US paymaster favours.
The assassination took place at a time when the US and France had just launched their campaign to force the Syrian army out of the Lebanon.
The assassination of Hariri was like a magnificent Christmas present for Bush and Chirac.
As a direct result of the assassination, the US and France were able to launch a campaign of Christian demonstrations which, combined with US threats, was successful in getting a full Syrian army withdrawal from the Lebanon. This was a severe blow to the security of the Lebanese and Syrian people, and greatly benefited the US and Israel, which are now looking to fill the vacuum left by Syria.
Syria did not gain a single thing from the assassination.
The pro-Syrian Lebanese president Emile Lahoud has also denied any involvement in al-Hariri’s death, or that he had contact with those who organised the assassination.
Yesterday the allies of the United States were baying for it to take action to change the Syrian leadership and overthrow President Assad, with Israel’s deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres taking the lead.
That the US wants to overthrow Assad and move both Syria and the Lebanon to the right is no secret.
Such a development, it believes, would assist it in isolating the Iraqi national liberation movement, while at the same time creating the conditions for advancing Israel’s traditional Phalangist allies in the Lebanon, as a prelude to attacking the Hezbollah movement that drove Israel out of southern Lebanon, and taking action against the Palestinian militias in the refugee camps.
The message to the PNA from this will be – settle with Israel while you can.
The US and France are now expected to try to indict Syria before the United Nations Security Council and impose sanctions on it until Syria ‘seals’ its borders with Iraq, ‘breaks with terrorism’, gives up its armoury of Scud missiles, capable of striking Israel, and holds ‘free elections’ ie gets rid of Assad and the people around him.
Calls are already being made for these demands to be supplemented by hot pursuit operations by US forces over the Iraqi border into Syria, either looking for non-existent terrorist bases or ‘chasing terrorists’, but in reality killing Syrian troops, to ram home the message that it is time for regime change.
The assassination of Hariri was nothing less than the beginning of the US drive for regime change in both Syria and the Lebanon.
A real investigation into the assassination of Hariri would have to begin in Tel Aviv and then move on to Washington.
The Syrian people must stand fast, against the US and Israel, and join with the Iraqi, Palestinian and Lebanese people in a revolutionary alliance to drive imperialism and Zionism out of the Middle East. This is the only way forward.
