Assad lashes out at Israel
Syrian president claims Israel active in efforts to 'change face of region'
Syrian President Basher Assad, speaking at Damascus University Thursday morning, said that "recent developments in the region prove Israeli involvement."
"There are efforts on the political front to change the cultural face of the region and to draw a new map. The Israeli factor was present in all of these attempts," Assad said. He added Syria would cooperate fully with a United Nations probe into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri but held little hope that it would avert pressure on Damascus.
He also noted Syrian cooperation did not mean Syria was willing to undermine its security and stability and warned that any harm to Syria would destabilise the region.
"We support international legitimacy but not at the expense of our national interests," he said.
The Syrian president said chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis had turned down an invitation to visit Damascus to discuss cooperation.
Mehlis, investigating the February 14 killing of Hariri in Beirut, wants his team to question six Syrian officials, including Assad's brother-in-law, in Lebanon.
Assad did not address Mehlis' request in his speech.
Assad slams Lebanon
In an unprecedented attack on the Lebanese government, Assad said Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had allowed Lebanon become a base for Syria's enemies.
"The truth we see today is that Lebanon has become a passageway, a factory and a financier of these conspiracies," he said.
Syria, long the main power-broker in Lebanon, ended its three-decade military presence in its neighbour in April amid an international outcry and mass protests over Hariri's killing. Assad accused Hariri's supporters of exploiting his death for political ends, saying the late Hariri had been Syria's main ally in Lebanon.
"The truth is those people, or most of them, are blood merchants. They created a market out of Hariri's blood ... Everything has a price," Assad said.
Reuters contributed to this report
