Syria Denies Hariri Probe Thwart

A Syrian Foreign Ministry official denied on Saturday that Damascus failed to cooperate in the U.N. investigation of the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

"Everything that was mentioned with regard to Syria's noncooperation is baseless, and I was sorry to read that" in the report, said Foreign Ministry adviser Riyad Dawoodi.

Meanwhile, The son and political heir of Rafik Hariri on Saturday called for an international tribunal to try his father's killers after a U.N. probe implicated top Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials.

Saad Hariri, a Lebanese legislator, made the appeal two days after chief investigator Detlev Mehlis handed his report to the U.N. Security Council on Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination in a massive Beirut car bombing, which also killed 20 other people.

Saad Hariri praised the U.N. investigation, which said there was a clear link between Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials in the bombing.

"The hour of truth has come ... the blood of the martyr Rafik Hariri and his colleagues in the march toward freedom, dignity, sovereignty will not have been shed in vain," he said in televised speech from his home in the Saudi Arabian city of Jiddah.

"The culprits who planned this terrorist crime and participated in executing and covering it up will face, God willing, to the punishment they deserve," he added.

"The investigation's report is a major first step in uncovering the truth. We will look forward to continuing chapters toward justice, which alone will be the source of full comfort for the Lebanese people," Hariri said.

"The U.N. Security Council is expected to take action against Syria, either in the form of a warning, a demand for cooperation, or sanctions," says CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk, "based on the combined weight of the assassination report and a second report to be released next week by U.N. special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen on Syria's indirect intervention in Lebanese affairs through intelligence operations and arms shipments to militias in Lebanon."

Repeating initial Syrian denials, Dawoodi said the findings of the U.N. probe into Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination submitted by chief investigator Detlev Mehlis were politicized and aimed at targeting Syria rather than finding the truth.

"We cooperated but this cooperation was misunderstood. I hope that (misunderstanding) was not intentional," Dawoodi said.

Speaking at a packed press conference in Damascus, Dawoodi said Mehlis based much of his report on unsubstantiated allegations. "All that was contained in the report is based on presumptions and allegations ... there's no proof," he said.

Mehlis concluded that the Hariri murder could not have been carried out without the knowledge and agreement of Syrian and Lebanese security and intelligence officials.

"This is just an allegation," Dawoodi said, describing the Mehlis report as a procedural document that should have remained secret until the investigators had more solid information.

"The (U.N.) committee until now has not provided any worthy evidence ... but rather has opened the door to debate on points it still is trying to prove," he said.

"This report could not be used in court," Dawoodi said.

Dawoodi sidestepped a question on whether Syria would allow witnesses to be questioned by Mehlis abroad. He said Damascus would cooperate with the probe, which was extended for two months on Friday, "but we'll see what is the extent of this cooperation."

He said Mehlis relied on "witnesses that lack credibility," citing as an example an alleged former Syrian intelligence officer, Zuhair Mohammed Al-Siddiq who was arrested last week in Paris after it appeared he gave false testimony to the U.N. team.

He said the commission also was influenced by other witnesses with known political aims, a reference to anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon.

"I believe the report needs to be put aside and the investigation continued till (the investigators) have convincing facts," he said.

Even before the report, Syria was suffering growing isolation, with an unstated moratorium in place on visits by high-ranking Western officials and the shelving of a European Union-Syria trade agreement. Syria's relations with other Arab countries also have deteriorated.

The drive for sanctions against the Assad regime was under full steam. Earlier this week, a U.S. official and two U.N. diplomats said the United States and France were preparing Security Council resolutions critical of Syria for its role in the Hariri assassination and its alleged arming of anti-Israeli militias in Lebanon.

Sanctions would further weaken Syria's struggling economy. A recent study by the United Nations Development Program and the Syrian government found that 5.3 million of the country's 18 million people live in poverty. Unemployment is estimated to be at least 20 percent.