Damascus: Thirty-three arrest warrants were issued by the Syrian judiciary on Sunday, targeting ‘false witnesses' who, according to them, had falsified facts, lied under oath, and testified in the 2005 probe over the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Syria's warrants, although expected, ripped through Lebanon because they targeted senior political, judiciary, media, and security officials, all members of Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri's immediate entourage.
Some are members of the Future Movement and others are members of the broader March 14 Coalition.
The list includes Marwan Hamadeh, Member of Parliament of the Socialist Progressive Party; Syed Mirza, a top prosecutor; Saqr Saqr, a judge; Fares Khashan, a journalist; Ashraf Rifi, Director of Internal Security; Wissam Hassan, head of the Information Branch at Lebanese security; Hassan Al Sabe, former interior minister; Charles Rizq, former justice minister; Johnny Abdo, former ambassador and Elias Atta Allah, former member of parliament.
Prime on the list, of course, is Detlev Mehlis, the former prosecutor who authored a 53-page report in October 2005 which led to the arrest of four Lebanese generals.
The report was later challenged by all of Mehlis' successors, including Jameel Syed, the former director of Lebanese Security. Syed, who has been cleared of the charges brought against him, filed an official request before Syrian courts in 2009 to prosecute those responsible for his imprisonment.
The warrants are sure to hurt relations between Damascus and Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri, son of the slain leader, who has sought to mend fences with Syria.
The warrants also come at a time when tensions are running high in the country over unconfirmed reports that the UN tribunal investigating Hariri's murder is set to indict members of Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran.
"This is a shocking development in terms of relations between the prime minister and the Syrian leadership," Oqab Saqr, a deputy in Hariri's pro-western parliamentary majority, said.
Samir Al Jisr, another deputy, said the warrants were an attempt to derail impending indictments by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
"By doing this, the Syrians are trying to pressure the government to change its position on the STL," Jisr said. "But we cannot back down on the tribunal, even if we wanted to."
From Hezbollah's standpoint, Hariri cannot maintain a strong relationship with Hassan Nasrallah while surrounding himself with anti-Hezbollah politicians.
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Junblatt, who made his own U-turn with Damascus earlier this year, said he had "no problem" with the warrants, adding that the STL which has caused so much conflict between Syria and Lebanon, should be abolished.
— With inputs from AFP
How do you think this move will affect domestic tension in Lebanon? Is the Special Tribunal for Lebanon likely to push ahead or will it be derailed by Syria and Hezbollah?
