US faults Syrian cooperation on UN Hariri inquiry

UNITED NATIONS, June 14 (Reuters) The United States today accused Syria of failing to cooperate fully with a UN inquiry into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

The accusation, by US United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, came despite the latest progress report on the probe led by Serge Brammertz of Belgium, which described Syrian cooperation as ''generally satisfactory.'' ''It is very clear that Mr Brammertz does not say in the report that Syria is fully cooperating,'' Bolton told reporters after Brammertz briefed the Security Council on the UN investigative commission's work. Earlier reports had accused Syria of obstructing the investigation into Hariri's 2005 assassination.

Brammertz's report, sent to the council on Saturday, said Damascus ''responded to all the commission's requests in a timely manner and in some instances comprehensive responses were provided.'' ''That is hardly a ringing endorsement,'' Bolton said.

Comprehensive responses in only some instances ''obviously implies that in some other instances maybe a majority of instances comprehensive responses were not provided.'' Detlev Mehlis, the German who led the commission until January, had made clear in his reports his view that senior Syrian intelligence officials and their Lebanese allies were probably behind Hariri's February 14, 2005, assassination. Hariri and 18 others died in a massive bomb as his motorcade traveled down a Beirut street.

Mehlis, who suggested Syria's leaders may have had Hariri killed for challenging Syria's domination of Lebanon, had repeatedly complained about Syrian obstruction of his work.

Syria has repeatedly denied any role in the killing and insisted it was fully cooperating.

Syrian Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad told the council on Wednesday that the biggest danger facing the investigation was the attempt by unnamed parties, who wanted to put pressure on Syria, ''to jump to prejudgments which are not based on clear evidence or truth.'' Lebanon is trying to put behind it some three decades of Syrian domination while Washington is pushing Damascus to end its support for armed groups that attack Israel and to seal its border with Iraq to prevent insurgents from entering.

Tomorrow is the final day of the UN commission's mandate, and Brammertz asked the Security Council to extend it for an additional year. He also asked for more staff and money to establish whether 14 other bomb attacks in Lebanon were linked to the Hariri assassination.

Bolton said Washington supported both requests.

REUTERS SY RAI0009