Wikileaks: Aoun blamed Syria for Hariri’s assassination

Al-Mustaqbal newspaper published on Wednesday Wikileaks cable 3875, issued by the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon saying that the Free Patriotic Movement’s (FPM) leader Michel Aoun accused Syria or radical Islamic movements of the assassination of the former PM Rafik Hariri.

The cable added that Aoun said he will vote for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) if the Cabinet submit it to the Parliament.

The cable reported Aoun as saying that the purpose behind the [March 8] request to appoint 10 ministers in the cabinet was to block any decision on internal or external issues of a critical nature. 

According to Al-Mustaqbal, Aoun conveyed a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad through the two congressmen, Christopher Dodd and John Kerry, who visited him in Beirut on December 18, 2006 to leave Lebanon alone and to maintain proper diplomatic relations between the two countries adding that the Syrian presence in Lebanon weakened this relation due to the corruption of Lebanese and Syrian politicians. 

Aoun expressed his dissatisfaction with the two congressmen for misunderstanding his statements and propagated through U.S. newspapers, jostling the “important friendship” between the FPM and the U.S.