UN report indicates Syria's involvement in Hariri assassination

The UN investigation report handed over on Thursday to the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, on the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri indicates evidence confirming the involvement of the Syrian and Lebanese security departments in the Hariri assassination.

The investigation which was led by the German prosecutor Detleve Mehlis concluded that "several evidences point directly to the involvement of Syrian security officials in the assassination. This came in the report which was submitted to the UN Security Council."

The reports says that the assassination of Hariri on February 14 was so sophisticated, that it is difficult to exclude that the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence would not have been aware of it.

The UN investigator said "it is a known matter that the Syrian military intelligence had an occupational presence in Lebanon, until the withdrawal of the Syrian forces according to UN resolution 1559, the Syrian presence had appointed most of the former security officials in Lebanon."

The report continued that the decision of assassinating Hariri "would not have been taken without the consent of Syrian security officials, and would not have been made without the collaboration from the Lebanese security department."

The committee accused in its report Syrian officials, including the foreign minister Farouk al-Shara of trying to mislead its investigations.