BEIRUT - Lebanese authorities agreed Saturday to an international panel to determine who killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, acceding to a demand from the anti-Syrian opposition following harsh UN criticism.
"Lebanon agrees to the creation of an international commission of inquiry if the Security Council takes such a decision to uncover the truth in the assassination of Rafiq Hariri," Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hamoud told reporters.
He was speaking after meeting ambassadors and senior envoys from three permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- Britain, China and Russia -- to explain the Lebanese position.
Ministry sources said he would also meet this week with envoys from the other two permanent members, the United States and France.
"We want to cooperate with the United Nations, the Security Council and with the UN secretary general, and the ambassadors I met today have favorably received this willingness on the part of Lebanon, as we want the truth, the whole truth, on the assassination," Hamoud said.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who is backed by Syria, also pledged full cooperation Saturday with the United Nations "on whatever method it adopts in order to know the identity of the perpetrators of the crime."
Convinced that Lebanese and Syrian security agents carried out the attack on Hariri and voicing no confidence in the country's security services, the opposition has been insisting on an international investigation.
The government, after resisting the demand on grounds that an international inquiry would infringe Lebanese sovereignty, changed its tune following the release Thursday of a report from a UN factfinding team.
The report was scathing in its criticism of an investigation carried out by Lebanese security services into the February 14 assassination, determining that it "has neither the capacity nor the commitment to reach a satisfactory and credible conclusion."
It called instead for an independent international commission to take over the inquiry and for a profound shake-up in the operation of Lebanon's security apparatus.
Hamoud (eds: correct) and other Lebanese officials dismissed the UN findings on Friday and accused the UN team, which concluded a 20-day mission here March 16, of exceeding its mandate.
But they had appeared to go along with some of its recommendations on condition that any outside panel cooperate with the government and respect its sovereignty.
Hariri's murder in a huge bomb blast stunned Lebanon and deepened friction between the Syrian-backed government and the opposition, which has accused Syria of involvement despite denials in Damascus.
Lebanese authorities have also had to deny accusations that the country's security apparatus had a hand in the assassination.
The UN mission, made up of investigators and experts from Ireland, Egypt, Morocco and Switzerland, made no effort to determine who killed Hariri.
But it found that Syria -- a major power broker in Lebanon since its troops entered the country in 1976 -- had created a climate of political tension in which the attack took place.
Hariri had clashed with Syrian leaders who last September reportedly pressured their allies in the Lebanese parliament to extend the term of President Lahoud for three years. Hariri then resigned as prime minister.
In addition to an international probe, the opposition has also been agitating for the removal of Lebanon's security chiefs.
"A commission of inquiry cannot work objectively if the heads of the security services are kept on," opposition leader Walid Jumblatt said Saturday.
"They should go -- the sword of Damocles hangs above their heads."
The death of Hariri galvanized popular momentum here for the departure of an estimated 14,000 Syrian troops, as stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 1559.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month agreed to the terms of the resolution and an estimated 4,000-5,000 troops have already returned home.
The departure of the remaining 10,000 or so is expected to be worked out in a meeting of Lebanese and Syrian military officials early next month.

03/26/2005 16:33 GMT