U.N. Orders Syria To Probe Death

The U.N. Security Council has approved a resolution demanding that Syria step up its efforts to investigate its involvement in the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister and Kennedy School of Government (KSG) benefactor Rafik Hariri.

The resolution is part of a continuing response to a probe into the circumstances surrounding his death led by prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, whose report on the topic was released on Oct. 20.

Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies fellow Carol R. Saivetz said that the U.N. resolution passed because of votes from Russia and China, which were secured when the explicit threat of sanctions against Syria was dropped by the U.S. and other council members.

Saivetz pointed out the differences between U.S. action related to the Hariri probe and past U.S. action towards Iraq.

“The U.S. government—[Secretary of State Condoleeza] Rice—has differentiated between regime change and behavior change.” she said.

While regime change was the case with regard to Iraq, Saivetz said behavior change is what the U.S. wants for Syria. This behavior change would include an increased closure of Syria’s border with Iraq, an end to Syria’s involvement with the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hezbollah, and a full withdrawal of Syrian influence from Lebanon.

Syria has announced its own probe into Hariri’s death on Saturday in response to criticism that it wasn’t investigating the death. In Lebanon, two brothers, Ahmed and Mahmud Abdel-Al, are in custody in connection to the killing.

One of the individuals implicated by the U.N. is Assef Shawkat, who is responsible for military security and is also the brother-in-law to Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Joseph A. Pace ’06, a Social Studies concentrator who is writing his thesis on U.S. foreign policy toward Syria and the Syrian opposition, said he thinks that Syria will be unable to effectively act on these charges.

“Assad’s sphere of influence has shrunk to a degree that he relies on very few people to stay in power,” he said. Asking Syria to investigate its own top level security officials is “equivalent to asking a Saudi thief to chop off his own hand.”

Hariri was assassinated when an explosion hit his motorcade in February. The former prime minister made his fortune in construction and established the Hariri Foundation in 1979, which helps Lebanese students study at institutions abroad, including the KSG.

According to the coordinator of educational programs and public affairs at the foundation, David J. Thompson, Hariri had an “international perspective” of world affairs, and he believed in supporting studies that would pursue this perspective. The foundation helped to set up a chair in political economy at KSG in 1992. The chair, which is in Hariri’s name, is currently held by Dani Rodrik.

“The family and everyone associated (with Hariri) are eager to know the truth” regarding Hariri’s death and are eager to see the full culmination of the U.N. probe, Thompson said.