Hezbollah's leader on Sunday denounced U.S. and French opposition to letting the chief U.N. investigator in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri identify the countries he feels are hindering the probe.Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the U.N. Security Council debate over naming the 10 nations was further proof that the investigation into Hariri's February 2005 killing was being politicized. "It is a big scandal for the United States and France to reject naming these countries in the Security Council. The big question is why?" Nasrallah said in an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa. Excerpts were carried Sunday by the official National News Agency and Hezbollah's own Al-Manar TV station.
The bombing that killed Hariri was widely blamed on Syria, and mass street protests by Lebanese over the slaying and international pressure forced the Damascus regime to end a nearly three-decade Syrian military occupation of its smaller neighbor. Lebanon's politics have since been snarled in a standoff between the pro-Western government and groups such as Hezbollah that are allied with Syria.
U.N. officials had earlier accused Syria of resisting the Hariri investigation, in which the suspects include several pro-Syria Lebanese generals. But in his fourth report to the Security Council on Dec. 16, chief investigator Serge Brammertz said Syria was now assisting his team in a "timely and efficient" manner. He said, however, that 10 other countries had failed to respond to 22 requests for information. "If this cooperation will not improve in the future, I will mention those countries to the secretary-general," Brammertz told reporters last month, adding he didn't intend to make the names public.
Last week, Russia sought to have Brammertz provide the Security Council with the names, but was blocked by opposition from the United States, France and other council members. France argued that if Brammertz wants the council to take action, he can ask members at any time, but the council should not interfere until he asks for assistance, a view backed by the U.S., Britain and others, council diplomats said last week at U.N. headquarters in New York. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the consultations were closed.