Haaretz: Assad Played Major Role with Hezbollah in Hariri Murder

The 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Martyr Rafik Hariri was a "joint venture between Syria and Hezbollah that served both their interests, and the UN probe into the murder is wrongly absolving Syria of guilt,” the Isr

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is reportedly set to implicate Hezbollah members in the assassination. But the Western sources said the murder "had in fact been a joint venture between Syria and Hizbullah that served both their interests."

"There's no doubt Syrian President Bashar Assad was involved in the assassination," Haaretz quoted one source as saying.

"Hariri had launched a process aimed at kicking the Syrians out of Lebanon, he was running for reelection as prime minister and was thought to have a good chance of winning. Above all, he recruited American, French and Saudi support for the moderate axis in Lebanon. Assad had every reason to get rid of him," the source explained.

Haaretz went on to say that Abdel Halim Khaddam, who had served as Assad's deputy, related that Assad had openly made a “threat” against Hariri during their last meeting before the murder, saying, "If anyone tries to throw us out of Lebanon, we'll smash Lebanon over his head."

It said that in October 2005, “Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan was found dead in his office. Kanaan had presided over Syrian intelligence in Lebanon for two decades and was considered Syria's strong man in Beirut,” Haaretz went on to say.

It said Damascus claimed he had committed suicide, but Western intelligence agencies believe he was “killed” by the Syrian regime because he knew too much about Hariri's murder. It is hard to believe, Western sources said, that anyone could have committed suicide by shooting himself three times in the back.