Assad: Hariri assassination targeted Syria ~ Special Tribunal is Lebanese concern

Source: As-Safir, 24-3-2009

Syrian President Bashar Assad said the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri targeted Syria, adding that Lebanon alone was concerned with the Special Tribunal.

"We support President Michel Suleiman and respect MP Michel Aoun as a friend after an enmity," Assad said in an interview with As-Safir daily to be published Wednesday.

Assad said the "Israeli" aggression on Gaza had sped up the Arab reconciliation. "The "Israeli" project intends to displace the Palestinians in the [West] Bank and Gaza," he said.

Assad also considered the US "occupation of Iraq a beginning of transformations." He added that US President Barack Obama's latest statements were positive, but that Syria was waiting for them to be translated into actions in the political arena.