Lebanon PM: Wrong to accuse Syria in Hariri death
Rafik Hariri
Those accusations by anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians that quickly followed the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri galvanized hundreds of thousands of their supporters to take to the streets in a powerful protest movement. It drove tens of thousands of Syrian troops out of Lebanon and ended decades of Syrian domination over its smaller neighbor.
 The first U.N. investigator into the Hariri assassination  Germany's Detlev Mehlis  said the plot's complexity suggested a role by the Syrian intelligence services and its pro-Syria Lebanese counterpart. But the two chief investigators who followed Mehlis have worked quietly and have not named any individuals or countries as suspects.
 Saad Hariri's comments Monday are part of a remarkable reconciliation between Lebanon and Syria. Hariri has worked to mend ties with Damascus over the past year  traveling to Syria five times.
 Hariri's explicit repudiation of blaming Syria removes one major obstacle to closer ties. It also comes at a time when Hariri and his Western-backed political bloc are struggling to maintain momentum as Syria's allies in Lebanon -- the Shiite militant group Hezbollah -- gain influence.
[TGT] galvanized hundreds of thousands of their supporters to take to the streets in a powerful protest movement. [TGT] drove tens of thousands of Syrian troops out of Lebanon and ended decades of Syrian domination over its smaller neighbor.
 The first U.N. investigator into the Hariri assassination  Germany's Detlev Mehlis  said the plot's complexity suggested a role by the Syrian intelligence services and its pro-Syria Lebanese counterpart. But the two chief investigators who followed Mehlis have worked quietly and have not named any individuals or countries as suspects.
 [TGT]'s comments Monday are part of a remarkable reconciliation between Lebanon and Syria. [TGT] has worked to mend ties with Damascus over the past year  traveling to Syria five times.
 [TGT]'s explicit repudiation of blaming Syria removes one major obstacle to closer ties. It also comes at a time when [TGT] and [TGT] Western-backed political bloc are struggling to maintain momentum as Syria's allies in Lebanon -- the Shiite militant group Hezbollah -- gain influence.