Cooperation Syria Style

The Syrians have begun playing their dangerous game

“Syria will cooperate fully with the international committee headed by Mehlis, and we have no reservations, except for the [preservation] of Syria’s sovereignty”

This is how Faruq Al Shara’, Syria’s Foreign Minister, effectively told the world that they reject having their 6 officials interviewed in Lebanon, as Mr. Mehlis, the UN investigator, had demanded.

Mr. Shara’a apparently cares about Lebanon so much that he’s afraid that such interviews would divide the Lebanese into two camps: The supporters of P.M. Seniora and the supporters of Assef Shawkat (The Syrian President’s brother in Law who’s one of the suspects). In this brilliant scenario, this would cause civil unrest which could lead to another civil war. Something the very sensitive Mr. Shara’a is keen on avoiding. This is why he suggested other venues for the interviews, “neutral” places like Egypt, Vienna, Geneva or even Syria itself.

Legally, the Syrians are in no position to make demands. UNSCR 1636 is perfectly clear: The Burden of Cooperation is on Syria and theoretically, even if Mehlis asked the 6 to be interviewed in Washington, they should not complain. But this being Syria, Mr. Assad wants to see how much he can push the international community to act over “trivialities”. The international community could play along to show that it is not punishing Syria over a “silly” matter, but the venue is indeed important.

The chatter in Lebanon is that Mr. Mehlis wants the 6 suspects to face some Lebanese figures and cross-investigate them. Lebanon is the crime scene and it would be absurd to move all the people, equipment and evidence to a far place. This would be a huge waste of time and the Syrians know it. They just love playing for time.