Iran Backs Syria After UN Report

The Peninsula:

Iran yesterday rallied behind Syria, its only regional ally, by praising Damascus for cooperating with a UN probe into the killing of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. Iran said the UN report, which implicated top Syrian and Lebanese figures in Hariri’s killing and raised the threat of international sanctions, should not be “politicised” and also urged the world not to rush to judgement.

“We should not be hasty in judging this issue until it is followed up with patience and accuracy,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, adding that Iran also wanted to “find out the truth about terrorism”. READ MORE

“Some countries want to use this report for their own goals, even though the process of this investigation should be about discovering the truth and identifying real criminals,” he said in a statement carried by Iranian news agencies.

He went on to praise “the goodwill that Syrian officials have shown in this process and their considerable help to the chief investigator” Detlev Mehlis, stressing that the “international community should consider the viewpoints of the Syrian people and government.” Although Asefi did not comment on the findings of the UN report, he said Iran “hopes a final report is composed and submitted based on technical and legal foundations” and that “the politicisation of this is prevented”.

Meanwhile, the UN report threatens to stir more tensions in the troubled region, Gulf dailies said yesterrday.

The Saudi newspaper Al-Jazira said the report did not contain irrefutable evidences, “so such a controversial report will not harm Syria alone, but the entire region.”

“It is not possible to link the fate of an entire region with assumptions made by the UN commission ... and the problem is with those who see the report as a final verdict,” it said.

Al-Jazira warned that “at the time when the Arab League is trying to extinguish the Iraqi volcano, another volcano (Syria) threatens to erupt on its borders, and bring about very difficult days for the region.

Abu Dhabi’s Al-Ittihad noted that the report was “published before the end of the investigation ... and contained strong suspicions instead of presenting irrefutable evidence. “The report is dangerous and could cause more tensions in the Middle East, and may be one of the most dangerous events witnessed in the region since the invasion of Iraq” in 2003.

“It puts a huge pressure on (pro-Syrian) Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, and puts Syria in an open political confrontation with the international community, represented by the United Nations and in particular the Security Council,” it said. “Therefore, it seems to be the beginning of a series of events that would resemble the aftermath of a massive earthquake in a region sitting on a powderkeg.”

Al-Bayan in Dubai also noted that “the report did not dot the Is in order to make things clear.” It warned that “the report contains dangerous accusations against Syria which could have dangerous consequences at the political level.”