Adamant of its innocence, Damascus is looking to other Arab capitals for support. It is time Arabs talked and generated a plan of action, writes Ibrahim Nafie Just as the international committee began investigating five Syrian officials in Geneva, Judge Detlev Mehlis said he wanted to leave his post as head of the investigation into Rafik Al-Hariri's assassination. For the Syrians, Mehlis's request is an admission of failure. But the US administration and some Lebanese officials want him to stay in the job. I recently chaired an emergency meeting of the Arab Journalists Union Secretariat in Syria, and saw how strongly Damascus is asserting its innocence. According to President Bashar Al-Assad, an act of such magnitude couldn't have happened without his knowledge. He is therefore certain that no Syrian official is involved in the case. The Mehlis report relied heavily on the testimony of Hossam Hossam, the masked witness who recently recanted, saying he had to give a false testimony under pressure. Hossam's testimony is controversial. Having lied once, he could be lying again. The Syrians are not trying to use Hossam's testimony as sole evidence of their innocence. Since UN Resolution 1636 calls on the investigating committee to seek conclusive evidence, Damascus says, the investigators should have researched the type of explosives used in the bombing and followed all clues leading to the booby-trapped car. Instead, they focussed on Damascus alone. The suicide of Syrian interior minister Ghazi Kanaan remains a mystery. Before his death, Kanaan spoke to a Lebanese radio station and left a message to his family. Syrian authorities have no explanation for the suicide of the interior minister, who had left Lebanon over two years ago. The Syrian president is categorically denying any involvement in Al-Hariri's assassination, and it is unimaginable that any Syrian would plan such a crime without the knowledge of the president. Syria is exploring all legal and political ways to prove its innocence. It is asking its regional and international friends to make sure that the investigating committee is acting neutrally. Damascus has allowed the committee to interrogate Syrian officials, and is prepared to improve its ties with Lebanon. The Syrians have welcomed a recent Sudanese initiative to mend the rift in Syrian-Lebanese relations. President Al-Assad has told the Sudanese foreign minister that there were no differences, officially or non- officially, between Lebanon and Syria. The Syrian president says he cannot see a reason for the current tension, although he admits that some Lebanese see Syria as their enemy. The Syrians are clearly disappointed with the Arab reaction to the crisis. Damascus hasn't called for an Arab summit because it does not wish for a gathering that would produce rhetoric rather than action. Damascus asked the Arab League to allow Syrian officials to be interviewed in the Arab League premises in Cairo, but this request wasn't granted. The Arabs keep telling Syria what to do, instead of telling the Americans to keep the investigation neutral and un- politicised. The Americans, the Syrian president said, want to hear nothing that isn't an accusation of Syria. The Russian Federation, by comparison, has helped Syria find decent terms for the interrogation of Syrian officials. The Syrians are appreciative of the efforts President Hosni Mubarak is making, and they value the current coordination between Cairo, Damascus and Riyadh; that Mubarak's visit to Damascus was of great help, Al-Assad said. The Syrian president said he wanted to visit Cairo last week, but couldn't because of the crisis. The Syrians believe that the crisis they are currently facing is the concern of all Arabs, and that it is part of a larger plot to undermine Arab countries one by one. As a result, they want to see a greater deal of coordination and cooperation among all Arab countries. Allow me to make a suggestion here. Arab countries are now attending an Islamic summit. Why don't they hold a mini-summit on the side and discuss the Syrian crisis?
