VOA News Monday, October 4th, 2010 Syria’s judiciary has issued arrest warrants for 33 people, including senior Lebanese judges and international officials, over alleged false testimony given in the U.N.-backed probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
The warrants were served against individuals named in a lawsuit filed in a Syrian court by former Lebanese Army General Jamil al-Sayyed, one of four pro-Syrian officers jailed in connection with Hariri’s 2005 murder.
Analysts say tensions over the Netherlands-based special tribunal investigating the Hariri slaying could push Lebanon to collapse if
any pro-Syrian Hezbollah militants are indicted in the case. Media reports say the indictments could be issued as early as this month.
The director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut said Monday he expects strains between the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shi’ite group and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri — son the slain former leader — to worsen after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Lebanon later this month.
A deputy in Hariri’s pro-Western parliamentary majority Monday called the warrants a “shocking development that targets relations” between the prime minister and the Syrian leadership.
Syria has denied involvement in the assassination and says the warrants, issued Sunday, are not politically motivated. Hezbollah and Syria contend the tribunal has been poisoned by witnesses who have deliberately mislead the United Nations probe. Many Lebanese blame Syria for Hariri’s death.
Al-Sayyed and three other pro-Syrian generals in Lebanon were imprisoned for nearly four years in connection with the former prime minister’s assassination. The U.N.-backed tribunal ordered their release last year, citing insufficient evidence to prolong their detention.
A truck bombing in Beirut killed former Prime Minister Hariri and 22 others in February 2005.
Some information in this story was provided by AP and AFP.
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