Increasing isolation threatens Syria

The country was previously experiencing some political and economic isolation.
NEWSDAY
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Syria faced the prospect of political and economic isolation Friday, a day after the release of a U.N. report implicating senior Syrian officials in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The exhaustive report into the Feb. 14 car bombing that killed Hariri and 20 others stopped short of laying the blame on Syrian President Bashar Assad or his inner circle. But it concluded that the plot was carried out after months of planning and extensive surveillance of Hariri, and most likely by top Syrian and Lebanese security officials.
The decision to assassinate Hariri "could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials and could not have been further organized without the collusion of their counterparts in the Lebanese security services," the report said.
Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah dismissed the report Friday, saying it lacked evidence and was based on witnesses "who are well known for their anti-Syria stands."
Urging accountability
The Bush administration and its European allies latched onto the findings. President Bush called on the U.N. Security Council to meet as soon as possible and "hold Syria accountable" for its involvement in Hariri's killing.
"The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement," Bush said during a visit to Simi Valley, Calif.
U.S. officials would not say what steps they would take against Syria, but they had discussed in recent weeks imposing sanctions on Assad's regime if it does not cooperate fully with the U.N. investigation. The Security Council is set to meet on the issue Tuesday.
Hariri's killing prompted international pressure and popular protests that led to the resignation of the Syrian-backed Lebanese prime minister and to the withdrawal of thousands of Syrian troops in April. Syria had kept troops in Lebanon since 1976, a year after the start of a civil war. But when the war ended in 1990, the troops remained, and Syria's influence extended to all parts of Lebanon's political and economic life.
Among other criticisms in the U.N. report, chief investigator Detlev Mehlis said Syria must provide more information if the investigation of Hariri's killing is to succeed. The inquiry, which was ordered by the Security Council in April, was extended until Dec. 15 by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
In the past, the Syrian regime would try to wait out the criticism until the world's attention shifted. That tactic was refined by the late Syrian leader Hafez Assad during his three decades in power, but it is not likely to work this time. The Bush administration, backed by Syria's one-time allies in Europe, is determined to force Damascus to pay a political price for Hariri's killing.
"Accountability is going to be very important for the international community," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday during a visit to Alabama.