UNITED NATIONS - Syria demanded the UN to remove passages from an international report on the circumstances of former Lebanese Premier, Rafik Al-Hariri's assassination.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Syrian foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara demanded the deletion of the reference to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in the report regarding him threatening Al-Hariri with physical harm if he does not approve extension of Lebanese President Emile Lahud.
He stressed saying that Syria is very surprised of the claim of an "alleged improper dialogue" between Assad and Hariri, saying it would never be accepted as it is untrue and lacks any material evidence." The letter said that to "help preserve the credibility of the UN and reports issued by it, Syria demands the removal of this passage from the fact-finding mission report." According to the report of the fact-finding mission, headed by Peter Fitzgerald, Assad threatened both Hariri and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt with physical harm, saying he "would rather break Lebanon over the heads of Hariri and Jumblatt than see his word in Lebanon broken." In his letter, Al-Shara said that the security and military cooperation between Lebanon and Syria mainly focused on maintaining the civil peace in Lebanon according to a national conciliation that was formed following the approval of the Taif Accord in which Syria was able to reduce its forces in Lebanon from 40,000 to 10,000 along with its full withdrawal from Lebanon before the upcoming elections in Lebanon.
The letter criticized the report as it overlooked the historic Syrian-Lebanese relations.