Arrests in Hariri Death Questioned

UNITED NATIONS — The legality of the sole arrests made so far in connection with the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, was called into question yesterday at the U.N. Security Council, while authorities in Paris announced the disappearance of a key witness in the killing.

At a public council briefing by the new head of the commission investigating the February 2005 assassination, Daniel Bellemare of Canada, a Russian representative questioned the arrest of four former Lebanese army generals. Asked whether one of his predecessors as U.N. investigator, Detlev Mehlis of Germany, was responsible for the August 2005 arrests, Mr. Bellemare said he did not know the extent of Mr. Mehlis's involvement but said the arrests were made "pursuant to the relative Lebanese law."

The episode — along with the announcement yesterday by the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, that the witness, Mohammed Zuheir as-Saddiq, has disappeared and is no longer in France after being under house arrest since October 2005 — highlighted the challenges facing investigators.

Among the hurdles is a widening political split in Lebanon, where Syria and Iran increasingly are gaining influence through their proxy army in the south of the country, Hezbollah, diplomats following the investigation said. The questions surrounding the arrest of the four pro-Syrian generals in the killing of Hariri, who was anti-Syrian, are seen as part of this political struggle.

"They didn't even mention our name," the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, said after yesterday's council briefing. Mr. Bellemare told reporters that in the three months since taking on his new role, he has not visited Syria, whose top officials were named as suspects in Mr. Mehlis's first report in 2005.

America, France, and Britain recently circulated to members of the Security Council a draft statement aimed at addressing the political strife that has divided Lebanon since the Hariri assassination. The draft, obtained by The New York Sun, calls on member states "to ensure there are no sales or supply of arms or related materiel to Lebanon except as authorized by its government," as the council demanded in the aftermath of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. The 15 council members, however, are as divided on the statement as the politicians in Lebanon, diplomats said.

Last week, Mr. Bellemare sparked speculation that his investigation would change course when he reported that a "criminal network" was behind the Hariri killing. But yesterday he stressed that he had used the word criminal "interchangeably" with terrorist and that like his two predecessors, he believes the network was politically motivated.

Mr. Bellemare, who has been appointed as prosecutor in the international tribunal on the Hariri assassination, declined to name any suspects. In his council briefing, Mr. Bellemare said he intended to request that the mandate of the investigative team, which expires in June, be extended for at least six months, indicating that it could be some time before suspects are identified publicly.