In an interview with a Spanish newspaper, a Syrian minister accused Israel of being behind the assassination of the Lebanese industry minister murdered last week.
“Israel and her partners stand behind the assassination of [Lebanese] Parliament Member Pierre Gemayel,” said Syria’s Information Minister Mohsen Bilel in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Elperidico.
He claimed that whoever accuses Syria of the assassination is influenced by the Lebanese political line defeated by the success of Hizballah against Israel this summer.
“The parties that committed the crime are the same forces that earlier invaded Lebanon to destroy its infrastructures and kill its civilians,” he said.
“The crime aimed at rescuing the Lebanese government that has lost its credibility, speed establishment of the international court without discussing its subject, transform and stir up the public opinion against Syria and to hinder the closer ties between the West and Syria.”
He also said that Syria wants peace and acknowledgement in the Middle East. Peace is dependent on the return of the Golan Heights, Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders and the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.