French Intelligence: Bellemare to Accuse Syria in Hariri’s Assassination

Local Editor

French intelligence returned to the game of accusing Damascus of killing the former Lebanese Prime Minister -Rafik Hariri. The French journalist Georges Malbrunot posted on his blog in "Le Figaro" that according to information and documents received from French intelligence, the last and amended sheet by the General Prosecutor of the International Tribunal, Daniel Bellemare, will include the names of Syrian officials.

In this context, the paper is quoted as saying that "several sources confirmed that the French Intelligence services have recently delivered information about the involvement of Syria in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to the Special Tribunal of Lebanon."
For Malbrunot, this explains the hardening of Paris in its dealings with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after two years of praise between 2008 and 2010. "The General Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare is convinced that the instigator of the crime sits in Syria, and that is what Bellemare declared in front of a high-level French diplomat."

The French diplomat explained, "Judge Bellemare paid us a visit few months ago and told me "I'm going to bring charges against members of Hizbullah, but we know that the instigators of the assassination of Hariri are in Damascus. If you give me the capabilities to follow up the investigations, I'll reach the mastermind in Syria".

"Clearly Bellemare was putting us in front of our responsibilities, and if we are to help him we will certainly be able to bring charges against the Syrians, "the diplomat concluded.
As the newspaper wondered about the purpose of leakage of Bellemare's information, it said, "At the beginning of the international investigation, it was expected to indict members of Hizbullah, and there were suspicions hovering on the management of some Syrian officials for the assassination.''

In addition, the "Le Figaro" pointed out that "until the outbreak of demonstrations against Bashar al-Assad's regime, the international community took the waiting position, for fear of its ability to inflict damage beyond its borders, "adding that "something is certain now. If one official or more are to be accused of the assassination of Hariri, it becomes difficult for anyone in the Security Council to refuse the imposition of sanctions on Syria, and it is likely that the names of some of these are included on the list of 13 that the European Union will punish. "
The paper also quoted Malbrunot as saying that "the International Tribunal said in its latest statement that Daniel Bellemare does not intend to make any amendments to its resolution, which he considers as final after six months of waiting, and within weeks it will be proved whether the information provided by French intelligence will lead Bellemare to Damascus in his search for the killers of Hariri."