Damascus takes to the streets to protest against UN reports
Roed-Larsen has added his criticism about the presence of Syrian services in Lebanon to charges levelled by Mehlis about Hariri's murder. Syria calls Arabs to solidarity, sparking new division in the Middle East.
Damascus (AsiaNews) Demonstrations continue in Damascus against accusations made by the Mehlis report against Syria, which seem to implicate even President Assad. Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amro Moussa, today declared the League to be contrary to any sanctions against Syria. His statement seems to come as a response to an appeal launched yesterday by the coordinator of the Union of parties united in Damascus. Moustafa Bekdach appealed to "Arab dignity", that it may express solidarity with Syria, saying that if it did not react today tomorrow would be hard and catastrophic.
For its part, Iran ranged itself firmly in favour of Syria: the president of the Iranian parliament, Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel said he refused to believe that Damascus was involved in Rafic's murder and he criticized the contents of the Mehlis report.
Yesterday's issuing of a second report, this time by Terjé Roed-Larsen, UN special envoy, has served to aggravate the situation. The report about the application of Resolution 1559, also critical of Damascus despite some positive considerations, describes as urgent the establishment of diplomatic ties between Syria and Lebanon. The report was especially critical of the continued presence of Syrian secret services in Lebanon, despite the withdrawal of Syrian troops after 30 years' occupation of the country of the cedars.
Larsen's second report, which follows another made public on 29 April, is seen in Syria as Part Two of the Mehlis report and as a part of the "international plot against Syria". The whole is part of a project for "a new international rewriting of the logic of change of the politics of the Syrian regime".
Anti-American slogans featured on banners waved today by students from the Fine Arts Faculty in a demonstration in Damascus: "No to American interference in the future of peoples"; "Syria is not responsible for the earthquake in Pakistan, we have not been accused of this yet " and others like "Larsen and Lehlis: two sides of the same coin "
On a political level, American ambassador to the UN, John Bolton has upheld the right of Mehlis international commission of inquiry to "have access to all Syrians implicated in the Hariri assassination, including, if it judges this as useful, Bachar el Assad", because "no one is above the law". His statements drew strong reactions today, after a phonecall made by President Assad to Putin asking him to intervene in favour of Syria on the Security Council, and after the Syrian Foreign Affairs deputy minister cautioned yesterday against mistaken use of the Mehlis report. Walid El Mouallem evoked the spectre of the Saiks-Pico pact, an agreement signed in 1919 by the allies, which divided Arab countries, putting Lebanon and Syria under a French mandate and Palestine under a British one.
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