Syria has reportedly told Saudi Arabia that it should challenge the potentially divisive indictments by the U.S.-backed tribunal on the former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri's murder.

“If you want Lebanon to remain strong, the indictment should be rejected and we should work together to stop its release,” wrote leading Lebanese newspaper As-Safir.
The former Lebanese prime minister was killed along with more than 20 others in a massive car bombing in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on February 14, 2005.
The Washington-sponsored Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) was established about two years later to investigate the incident.
The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah's Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said in July that he had been informed by the slain leader's son and current Premier Saad Hariri that the U.S.-backed STL “will accuse some undisciplined
[Hezbollah] members.”
Nasrallah, however, has fiercely rejected the allegation, warning that the plot was part of “a dangerous project that is targeting the resistance.”
Meanwhile, Damascus and Riyadh have entered “strenuous negotiations” aimed at preventing Lebanon from plunging into a political crisis on the back of such indictments, the daily said.
According to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Saudi-Syrian initiative has reached near-final results but announcing the concluding agreement was delayed due to Saudi King Abdullah's health complications and his hospitalization in New York.
The Lebanese newspaper added that Assad has called on Abdullah to inquire about his health and that the Syrian leader was forced to speak in codes with the monarch about the Lebanese issue, fearing wiretapping measures by Washington.
(Source: Press TV)
Photo: Saudi King Abdullah and President al-Assad had met in a summit with the Lebanese President Michel Suleiman in Beirut five months ago. (EPA photo)
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