BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Syria's U.N. delegate Faycal Mokdad questioned the credibility of the inquiry into the slaying of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Speaking in an interview Monday in the Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Awsat, Mokdad said: "The problem impeding the inquiry is not reaching an agreement on the place where Syrian suspects are to be interviewed but to what extent the investigation is credible."
The head of the U.N.-commissioned inquiry, German Prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, named six Syrian security officials as suspects and demanded he be allowed to interview them at the commission's Lebanon headquarters in Monte Verde northeast of Beirut.
Syria rejected the venue and proposed instead the seat of the Arab League in Cairo or any other U.N.-controlled area outside Lebanon.
Mopkdad said the report, which Mehlis presented to the Security Council last month, "clearly reflected politicizing the issue which makes the investigation hard to be respected."
"Mehlis demand to interview the Syrian security officials in Lebanon is a mere provocation," he added.
Asked how Syria will respond if Mehlis demands to interview Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa, Mokdad said: "We have already affirmed that Syria is ready to cooperate fully with the investigation and when we receive such a request we will respond to it."
Mokdad reiterated Syria's official stance on the investigation saying, "It will reach one conclusion and that is Syria's innocence."
"Mr. Mehlis should focus his investigation on all possibilities, instead of ruling out other enemies of Lebanon and the late Hariri," Mokdad added.
Mehlis has named six Syrian security officials as suspects, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law and military intelligence chief Asaf Shawkat.
Resolution 1363 passed unanimously at the Security Council last month, called on Syria to cooperate fully with the inquiry or face "further action," in a possible allusion to economic and political sanctions.
