Aside From Hezbollah, Syrian and Iranian Likely Involved In Hariri's Assassination

Normally, I wouldn't rely on a Lebanese website to get an English translation of an article in an Israeli newspaper...

Syrian President Assad's son-in-law and a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard reported to be involved in assassination of Rafik Hariri:

Syrian President Bashar Assad's son-in-law Assef Shawkat is reportedly involved in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot said.


It said Maj. Gen. Shawkat is likely to be summoned for trial by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Aharonot said Brig. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, is also likely involved in the Hariri crime.

It quoted experts inside and outside Israel who are following up on the Hariri murder case as saying that STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare refused an urgent request to postpone issuance of the report's conclusions about for fear that Hizbullah would rein in power.

For this reason, Aharonot wrote, the STL report will be issued in December as planned.

It said the experts believe that data on the involvement of Shawkat and other senior officials in the Syrian military intelligence in the Hariri assassination has led U.S. President Barack Obama to change his position on Syria.

To the degree that Hezbollah is involved, Iran--as Hezbollah's puppet master--must be involved too. It would also stand to reason that with Syria's ongoing interests in Lebanon, they would have a hand in the murder as well.

The question now is what will happen between now and December to disrupt the situation in an attempt to prevent the report from becoming official?

Technorati Tag: Rafik Hariri .