LEBANON: The report of the United Nations team investigating last February's assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister has been overshadowed by the car-bomb murder on Monday of a politician and prominent newspaperman and a cabinet crisis.
While they are deeply shocked by the killing of Gibran Tueni, the crusading editor of an-Nahar, the country's leading daily, Lebanese disagree profoundly over who carried out the bombing.
Those who campaigned for Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon following the killing of former prime minister Rafik Hariri accuse Damascus of being behind the Mr Tueni's death.
Al-Mustaqbal, the Hariri family newspaper, proclaimed: "Syrian security regime assassinates Gibran Tueni".
However, Syria's allies argue that Damascus has been seriously harmed by this assassination.
Dr Ibrahim Mousawi, a political analyst close to the Shia Hizbullah movement, said that over the last two weeks Syria had been successful in lifting international pressure on the regime.
Hussam Taher Hussam, a key witness interviewed by UN investigators, was discredited when he retracted evidence linking Syria to the Hariri murder. The pressure on Syria rose again as soon as news broke of the bombing of Mr Tueni's car.
The cabinet crisis flared when the government formally requested the Security Council to expand the UN investigation to incorporate the 13-month spate of political killings in Lebanon and to form an international court.
Five ministers from the Shia Hizbullah and Amal movements withdrew without voting and froze their participation in deliberations. They argued that Lebanon should impose strict limits on external intervention in its affairs before calling for "internationalisation".
Mr Mousawi said Shias, more than a third of the population, had doubts about the intentions of the western powers, which had their own agendas in Lebanon and the region.
Although Lebanon has been pitched into a fresh crisis, it is is not divided along straightforward sectarian lines. Right-wing Maronites, Druze and Sunnis critical of Syria and backed by the US are ranged against Shias and other right-wing Maronites who do not want to see Syria humiliated or the US gain ascendancy over Lebanon.
The report, discussed by the UN Security Council yesterday, accuses Damascus of hindering the work of the mission and casting doubt on its findings.
The document, assembled under the direction of German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, says Syria sabotaged the inquiry by burning all Syrian intelligence documents relating to last February's murder of Mr Hariri and demands that Syria should detain "Syrian officials or individuals whom the international probe considers as suspects".
However, Damascus insists that firm evidence of their involvement must be produced before they can be arrested. While Damascus did make available for questioning five Syrian officials, the UN team still seeks interviews with foreign minister Farouk Sharaa, who would be called as a "witness" rather than a suspect, and other key figures.
The report says evidence of Syrian involvement has been strengthened by new witnesses whose testimony was not included in the interim assessment of the investigation presented to the council in October.
Mr Mehlis says that Lebanese intelligence, which was closely tied to the Syrian security apparatus, kept a close watch on Mr Hariri's movements in the run-up to the massive car bomb which killed him and another 22 people.
Gen Jamil Sayyed, a former Lebanese security chief and one of four under detention, "operated an illegal fund . . . which financed secret operations" and could have been used to fund the Hariri operation.
Mr Mehlis, who has stepped down as head of the team, recommends carrying on with the investigation until the culprits are arrested.