Syria: Hizbullah Leaders to Remain Active in Damascus
Syria”s ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha has said Damascus will allow Hizbullah leaders to remain active in Syria despite the assassination of the party”s commander Imad Mughniyeh.
Moustapha also said in an interview with the Associated Press Monday that Syria”s investigation into Mughniyeh”s killing in a Damascus car bombing on Feb. 12 is progressing.
Hizbullah leaders have accused Israel of killing Mughniyeh and have vowed to retaliate. Israel has denied involvement in the bombing.
Meanwhile, Mughniyeh”s widow claimed that Syria was behind her husband”s killing, Iranian news website Alborz reported.
“The Syrian traitors assisted in my husband”s murder,” the site quoted Saada Badr el Din as saying.
“The Syrian refusal to let Iranian investigators do their job is proof of Damascus” complicity in my husband”s murder,” she said.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Moustapha said Israel and Palestinians will not reach a peace deal this year, and a recent Mideast peace conference in Annapolis was only “an exercise in public relations.”
He said U.S. President George Bush has no real desire to broker a peace deal and that there are powerful forces within his administration who believe “chaos is constructive” in the Middle East.
“We believe that the whole Annapolis thing was an exercise in public relations,” Moustapha said. The only thing that happened there was “people were smiling and saying “cheese.””
Moustapha added, “I don”t think there is a unanimous belief among the administration, across the departments of this administration, that peace should be the path forward in the Middle East.”
“I don”t know who he is referring to,” responded Tom Casey, a U.S. State Department spokesman. “I certainly know that we have serious and ongoing concerns about Syria”s unconstructive role in the region.”
The White House accuses Syria of harboring terrorists, supporting Hizbullah and of allowing insurgents to freely cross its border into Iraq.
Palestinian officials are also pessimistic, Moustapha said, adding that they have told him no progress has been made in one-on-one negotiations with Israel.