Government Paper Blames US, Israel For Druze Killing

An editorial published in the Syrian state-run newspaper Tishreen on September 13 blamed the United States and Israel for a string of assassinations in Lebanon.



In the article, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Isam Dari asserted that both the US and Israel benefited from the instability caused by the killings.



Dari claimed that the death of pro-Syrian Druze leader Saleh al-Aridi, killed by a car bomb on September 10, “cannot be unconnected” with earlier assassinations, beginning with that of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri in February 2005.



(United Nations investigators have implicated Syria in Hariri’s killing.)



Aridi’s death received wide coverage in the Syrian media. The foreign ministry issued a statement saying that “such crimes, targeting the security and stability of Lebanon, will not achieve their goals".



Dari accused the US and Israel of encouraging terrorism in Lebanon and attacking the country over three decades. He maintained that while Aridi may have been killed by Lebanese, those who planned the attack “are somewhere else”.



In an indirectly criticism of countries like Saudi Arabia, which has condemned past Syrian involvement in Lebanon, Dari said that “those who suffer when there is harmony in Lebanon” belong to various different nationalities.