Hariri murder probe hinders Syria-Lebanon ties
Several bilateral agreements between the two have been signed but relations remain chilly at best
Beirut: A five-year murder probe into the killing of Rafik Hariri by an international tribunal is complicating a Lebanese push to build a new, more amicable relationship with Syria, its powerful larger neighbour.
Since taking office a year ago, Sa'ad Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister, has reached out to Syria in an attempt to mend several years of strained relations between the two countries following the assassination of his father, Rafik, a former premier, in a truck bomb blast in February 2005.
"Today, I am the prime minister of Lebanon and we wanted to open a new page with Syria and we have entered a new era of relations with Syria, on a state-to-state level," said Sa'ad Hariri.
Hariri's overtures toward Syria in recent months include several meetings with President Bashar Al Assad and a number of statements absolving the Syrian leadership of responsibility for his father's death. But his efforts at rapprochement have met with mixed signals from Syria.
‘No problem'
Several bilateral agreements have been signed and Al Assad last week told the Arabic Al Hayat daily that he had "no problem" with Hariri and that the doors of Damascus were always open to the Leban-ese premier.
But a Syrian court recently issued indictments against 33 of Hariri's political allies and advisers and Lebanon's top police chief.
Mohammad Naji Al Otari, the Syrian prime minister, recently described the political coalition to which Hariri belongs as made from "cardboard," a comment that drew angry reactions in Lebanon.
The United States has repeatedly accused Syria of transferring advanced weapons systems to Hezbollah in Lebanon, a claim that Damascus denies.
Overshadowing efforts to forge a new bilateral relationship is the ongoing investigation into the Hariri murder, which could see the issuing of the first indictments by a United Nations-mandated tribunal before the end of the year.
