MUKHTARA, Lebanon, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt accused Syria on Tuesday of trying to destabilise Lebanon to undermine a U.N. inquiry implicating Damascus in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. A Syrian witness who has accused Hariri’s son Saad of bribing him to testify falsely said on Monday a report by U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis implicating Syrian and Lebanese officials in the assassination was based mainly on his own lies.
Jumblatt said the allegations of Hosam Taher Hosam, a former Syrian intelligence agent, were part of a Syrian campaign to discredit Mehlis just before U.N. investigators question five Syrian witnesses flown to Vienna to meet them."This political senility and this deception by the Syrian security apparatus is a laughable farce and at the same time it seems they will use all means, even security, to shake up security (in Lebanon) to try to confuse the inquiry," Jumblatt told Reuters television
The Druze leader, an erstwhile ally of Damascus who turned into a fierce critic of Syria’s military presence in Lebanon, said the Syrian still had security networks in the country.Syria dominated its neighbour politically and militarily for almost three decades until a Lebanese and international outcry over Hariri’s death forced it to withdraw its troops in April.