US alleges Syria targeting Lebanese leaders

Fri Jun 10, 2005

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Friday he was disturbed by reports of covert Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs and the White House charged that it had information that Damascus had drawn up an assassination hit list targeting Lebanese political leaders.

"Obviously we're going to follow up on these troubling reports, and we expect the Syrian government to follow up on these troubling reports," Bush told reporters.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said afterward that Washington had received information about a "Syrian hit list targeting key Lebanese public figures of various political and religious persuasions, for assassination."

Lebanon's anti-Syrian Druze leader has also alleged that Syrian intelligence officers are running free in the country and warned of more political assassinations ordered by Damascus.

Syrian Expatriates Minister Buthaina Shaaban, who often speaks for the government, countered that Syria had completely withdrawn from Lebanon and denied that Damascus had drawn up an assassination hit list in Lebanon.

"Syria never had a history of hit lists ... I think they should look somewhere else unless they want to use this as a pretext to target Syria without finding any proof," she said.

"The killings in Lebanon are as much dangerous for Syria than they are for Lebanon and therefore it is impossible for Syria to contemplate such a thing," she told CNN, speaking in English.

U.N. officials and diplomats said Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to send a U.N. verification team back to Lebanon to see if Syrian intelligence agents are still in the country.

McClellan said Washington's allegations were based on intelligence "that we have seen."

McClellan said the United States has been receiving Syrian "hit list" reports for some time. He said they "resurfaced" with the killing of anti-Syrian columnist Samir Kassir last week. Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in February.

A senior Bush administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the information came from "a variety of credible Lebanese sources."

After an Oval Office meeting with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, Bush called for Syria "to not only remove her military but to remove intelligence officers as well" from neighboring Lebanon.

McClellan said the United States wanted Lebanon's elections to proceed "in a free and fair manner without any outside interference or intimidation."

Lebanon's elections, the first in three decades without a Syrian military presence, are being held in different regions over four weeks from May 29 to June 19.

"We strongly believe that Syria's covert intelligence apparatus in Lebanon is destabilizing to the country and creates an environment in which violence and intimidation are encouraged and become possible," McClellan said. "They need to stop meddling inside Lebanon and stop meddling in Lebanon's internal affairs."

Washington has also accused Damascus of supporting anti-Israeli groups, and of failing to keep anti-American insurgents from crossing the Iraq border.

The White House welcomed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision to send a U.N. verification team back to Lebanon to see if Syrian intelligence agents are still in the country.

"We want to see them there through the period of the elections and the Cabinet formation in order to better clarify reports of Syria's continued intelligence presence and to deter any further efforts to derail the democratic process that is under way," McClellan said.

The United States has kept up pressure on Damascus since Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon.

On Thursday, the Bush administration ordered U.S. banks to freeze the assets of a Syrian-based company and two of its officials whom it accused of providing military equipment to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Last week, Bush administration officials asked the European Union to hold off on signing a trade and aid pact with Damascus. Bush imposed economic sanctions last year. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland)

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