Word: syrians
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Faced with an embarrassingly low turnout of heads of state at this weekend's annual Arab summit in Damascus, the Syrian hosts at least escaped being singled out for blame in the latest progress report into the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister...
...assassination sparked outrage in Lebanon and a series of mass protests that forced Syria to disengage from its tiny neighbor two months later. Since then, however, Lebanon has been mired in deep political crisis, in which the Western-backed government and its supporters are at loggerheads with a pro-Syrian opposition. The United States and its Arab allies, including regional giants Saudi Arabia and Egypt, blame Syria for the deadlock in Lebanon, which has left the country without a president since November. In a snub to Damascus, half the 22 heads of state invited to attend the Arab League summit...
...would be more forthcoming than his tight-lipped Belgian predecessor, Serge Brammertz. The original investigator, Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor, produced two sensational reports during his six-month tenure that read more like crime thrillers. A draft version of the first report in October 2005 even named four leading Syrian security officials as suspects. Mehlis also advised the Lebanese authorities to detain four top Lebanese generals who were close to Syria. They have been held without charge in a Beirut prison since August...
...took over from Mehlis in December 2005. He shunned the media and released perfunctory reports that revealed little of the investigation's progress. He confirmed that the likely motive for Hariri's assassination was his political activities, centered on the former prime minister's deteriorating relations with the Syrian leadership in the last months of his life. And there appeared to be no drastic change of direction in the focus of the investigation as first conveyed by Mehlis. But there was no more naming of suspects, nor inclusion of witness statements that had so enlivened the two Mehlis reports...
Hizballah has blamed Israel, and the organization's expected retaliation will likely aim in that direction. But could the $5 million price tag for Mughniyah's head have proved too tempting for a member of the Syrian regime? Or was it a favor by Damascus to the U.S. in exchange for an easing of international pressure...