BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Chief international investigator into a former Lebanese prime minister's assassination reportedly said Saturday he believes Syria is behind the slaying.
The Saudi ash-Sharq al-Awsat daily quoted German Prosecutor Detlev Mehlis as responding with a strong "yes" when asked if he definitely believes that Syria is behind former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination in Beirut.
Asked by the London-based paper what is the level of the Syrian government's involvement in the murder, Mehlis said: "This is a matter of speculation and I cannot comment on it."
The paper, monitored in Beirut, said he also refused to define the status in the investigation of Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother, Maher, and his brother-in-law and chief military intelligence, Asaf Shawkat.
Mehlis named these two men as suspects in a report to the U.N. Security Council last October.
The chief investigator told the paper he decided to resign from the probing commission "for professional and personal reasons, as well as for the strict security system" imposed on him during his presence in Lebanon.
Mehlis presented his second report on the progress of the investigation early this week, after which Security Council passed a new resolution, 1644, that extended the mandate of the investigation commission for six months.
It also agreed to debate the Lebanese government's demand for the creation of an international tribunal.
In his last report, Mehlis accused Syria of stalling in its cooperation with the inquiry, although Resolution 1636 passed in October threatened Syria with economic sanctions if it failed to fully cooperate.
