LEBANON: The UN team investigating the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri has summoned six senior Syrian security officials to Beirut for questioning. The authoritative pan-Arab al-Hayat reported on Saturday that the call was issued last Wednesday ahead of Eid al-Fitr, the feast ending the Muslim month of fasting, writes Michael Jansen.
UN Security Council resolution 1636 adopted a week ago demanded that Damascus produce anyone considered a suspect by UN investigators and threatens unspecified "action" if Syria fails to co-operate fully. The resolution was adopted shortly after German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, chairman of the UN mission, issued an interim report saying there was "converging evidence" of high-level Lebanese and Syrian involvement in the killing. Last summer four senior Lebanese security figures were detained and charged.
The officers summoned include President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law Asef Shawkat, who is head of military intelligence; Bahjat Suleiman, former chief of domestic intelligence; and Gen Rustom Ghazali, the last head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon. Dr al-Assad's brother, Maher, commander of the presidential guard, who was also mentioned by Mr Mehlis as a possible interviewee, was not called.
He complained that when several of these figures were interviewed in Damascus in September they gave prepared answers to interrogators. Syria could, however, resist sending the men to Lebanon because of concern for their safety. Cyprus has been mentioned as a possible alternative venue.
Meanwhile, Syria's commission of inquiry, set up last week in response to a demand from Mr Mehlis, called for anyone with information on the Hariri slaying to contact its office in Damascus. The head of the commission, Judge Ghada Mourad, announced she will question everyone with any possible connection to the case.