Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Syria has demanded new U.N. and Lebanese inquiries into the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister after a witness recanted his testimony implicating Syrian officials. Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad made the demand on Wednesday after Husam Taher Husam, a Syrian barber and self-proclaimed intelligence operative, came forward with claims that he had been offered money by the family of slain former prime minister Rafik Hariri and by Lebanese officials to frame Syria.

Husam’s accusations, made on Sunday, were immediately rejected by the Lebanese government and Hariri’s family. And the head of the U.N. commission into the killing, Detlev Mehlis, said in remarks published Thursday that Syria was trying to obstruct the U.N. investigation. But Mekdad said Husam’s claim that he lied to investigators about Syria’s involvement was “a new, important development” that requires re-evaluation of the initial findings of the U.N. inquiry into the Feb. 14 bombing that killed Hariri and 20 others in Beirut.

Beirut, 1 Dec. (AKI) – Detlev Mehlis, head of the UN commission of inquiry into the death of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, may resign if the UN extends the commission’s mandate beyond its current 15 Dec. deadline, according to several Lebanese newspapers. The English language Daily Star, citing commission sources, says Mehlis is considering an offer for a top job in the German judiciary.

The Arabic language daily As-Safir suggests that Mehlis is under pressure to leave the commission from political forces in Germany who are concerned that the German judge’s high profile role could harm the country’s relations with the Arab world.Another Arabic newspaper An-Nahar also suggests Mehlis is on the verge of quitting, but, citing UN Undersecretary-general for Political Affairs, Ibrahim Gambari, says that the UN commission will continue its work "with or without Mehlis, because the truth in the assassination [of Hariri in February] cannot be established within the next weeks [in time for the 15 Dec. deadline]."