Lebanon Files Preliminary Charges in Hariri’s Slaying

Lebanese prosecutors filed preliminary charges Thursday against four Syrian-backed generals suspected of helping to plot the massive car bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The four men were among five suspects detained for questioning this week by United Nations investigators probing the February assassination of Hariri. The investigators then shared evidence with the Lebanese authorities and asked that the four men be charged and kept in custody so that they would not flee the country.

Asked whether the men were suspected of helping to carry out Hariri’s slaying or whether they were suspected of destroying evidence, U.N. chief investigator Detlev Mehlis of Germany didn’t mince words. “They were to some extent part of the planning that led to the assassination,” he said.

The charges go straight to the heart of the Syrian-Lebanese security network that ruled Lebanon for years: All four generals wielded tremendous power in the defunct system, which collapsed when Syria was pressured into pulling its troops out of Lebanon this spring.

One of the suspects, Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hamdan, still heads the Republican Guard and is a close aide to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. The other three -- an ex-police chief, a former head of General Security and an ex-chief of military intelligence -- stepped down amid the groundswell of anti-Syria sentiment sparked by Hariri’s death. They were to be interrogated today by a Lebanese magistrate, who would then decide whether they should be formally charged.

The accusations against some of Damascus’ most prominent allies here add to the tremendous pressure on neighboring Syria. Many Lebanese blamed Syria for the assassination, and their anger was so intense that Hariri’s death became a historic tipping point. The pressure of local and international outrage led Syrian President Bashar Assad to withdraw his soldiers and relinquish the regime’s 29-year grip on Lebanon.

But Syria has refused to cooperate with attempts to clear up the mystery of Hariri’s death, Mehlis said. He said Assad’s government had turned down U.N. requests to question Syrian officials in Damascus about the slaying.

No Syrian suspects have been identified, but Mehlis warned that investigators wouldn’t be able to sort out the crime unless the Syrian government cooperated with the inquiry. The silence from Damascus has slowed the investigation, he said. The U.N. had hoped to finish its investigation by mid-September, but it is now expected to ask for at least another month.

Mehlis said he grew more optimistic when he read recent comments in which Assad said that Syria would cooperate fully with the investigation.

“Without this cooperation we can’t have the full picture,” the chief investigator said. “I’m ready and willing to go to Syria.”

Mehlis remained vague about which Syrian officials were wanted for questioning except to say that “we were going to interview everybody who was at some point responsible for security here in Lebanon.”

Asked repeatedly whether Assad was one of the officials sought, Mehlis refused to answer.

To the many Lebanese who have long claimed that Syria had a hand in Hariri’s killing, the intransigence comes as little surprise.

“If they comply, they’ll have a problem. If they don’t, they’ll have a problem,” said Nassib Lahoud, a former lawmaker and prominent opponent of Syria’s involvement in Lebanon.

“They have to think about what’s more damaging to the regime,” said Lahoud, a cousin and rival of the Lebanese president.

Former Lebanese legislator Nasser Qandil was also detained this week. The staunch Syria ally was freed after questioning and was not charged by Lebanese authorities, but Mehlis said Qandil remained a suspect.

The assassination plot probably took a long time and required more than five people to carry it out, said Mehlis, who spoke with reporters at a news conference marked by heavy security. More arrests will probably follow, he said.

“These five people we’ve arrested, in our assessment, are only part of the picture,” Mehlis said. “We do think more people were involved.”