Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri believed Syria was behind the assassination of his father, according to a taped video aired Sunday by Lebanese network New TV, which is said to be affiliated to Hezbollah.
On the second tape aired that night, Hariri is heard giving a testimony to Lebanon Tribunal investigator Lajmi Mohammad Ali on July 30, 2007.
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"If you ask me what happened and why, I think that Assef Shawkat (Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law) and Maher Assad (the president's brother) had a big role in it," he said.
"In what?" asked Ali, to which Hariri replied: "In the assassination plot and in pressuring Bashar to make the decision to do it."
During the investigation, the Lebanese prime minister recalled that "When President Hafez Assad passed away, I went with my father to pay respects to the mourning family together with Minister Mustafa Tlass (former Syrian defense minister).
"When we arrived Assef Shawkat had already left. Tlass looked at my father and told him, 'May good save Syria from this man,' and it is true," noted Hariri the son.
Hariri blaming Assad?
Hariri's office did not deny the tapes were genuine, but stated in response, "The attempt to instigate between Hariri and those who seek justice for Lebanon is destined to fail."
On Saturday, the Lebanese TV network aired another tape that claimed Hariri briefed one of the tribunal's "false witnesses," and demanded that he dig up material about Syria.
