Sharaa reiterates Syria's will to hold UN inquiry
Syria-Lebanon-UN, Politics, 12/7/2005

Syria renewed on Tuesday full support to make the investigation into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, and said he wants the best relations with Lebanon.

Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa told journalists after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that "we in Syria are for the investigation to take its normal course, but when the aim of inquiry becomes political, that means it is is being used to keep it far away from uncovering the truth, and this is what Syria does not want."

He said "we want to divulge the truth noting that pressures on Syria are continuing but the Syrian people rejects them and expresses his denunciation everyday." Sharaa said that Syria wants the best ties with Lebanon who does the same, clarifying that the problem lies in some bids inside and outside Lebanon to internationalize the Lebanese problem where the investigation process is used as not to make the aim as to uncover truth but rather to create a passive effect inside Lebanon and therefore in the region by putting pressure on a daily basis and by all legal and illegal means against Syria and Lebanon.

He noted "we are trying and exerting all possible effort as to improve ties with Lebanon and we are not imposing any conditions, but whenever we try to improve them; we find there is someone objecting inside Lebanon."

Regarding the Shabaa Farms issue, Foreign Minister Sharaa said they are Lebanese, but the issue in the first place is the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan and Shabaa Farms. "We should not forget that Shabaa farms are under the UNDOF and not under the UNFIL... These issues are complicated and they should be solved through the Israeli withdrawal from the Lebanese and Syrian occupied territories as well through the full implementation of UN resolutions 425 and 242," he said.

Sharaa stressed it this was a Syrian-Lebanese demand that the UN Security Council must respond to implementing its resolutions and what is issued of them. Asked whether there is a meditation between Syria and Lebanon, Foreign Minister Sharaa said "what is between the two countries does not need a mediation because they are two sisterly and neighboring countries; history and joint interests are bigger than what some might imagine."

He denied prospects of holding a small Arab summit on the margin of the OIC summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, noting that meetings of the Islamic Summit would be held tomorrow and the Arab Foreign Ministers meeting would be held in Cairo next week.

Previous Stories:
  Saad al-Hariri accuses Syria of obstructing his father's murder investigation   (12/6/2005)
  Two Syrian officials interrogated in Vienna   (12/6/2005)
  Syrian efforts regarding UN Hariri investigation accuracy   (12/3/2005)

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