Israeli officials call for change in Syrian leadership

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres on Friday called for changes in the Syrian leadership, following a UN report implicated Damascus' involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, Israel Radio reported.

According to the UN report, the plot to assassinate Hariri must have had the approval of Syrian security officials.

"I think there needs to be change in Syria," Peres was quoted as saying, adding that the United States and France should take the lead in deciding on an international response to the UN findings.

The findings, sent to the UN Security Council late Thursday, drew the first official link between Damascus and the Feb. 14 slaying of Hariri. The UN council is scheduled to discuss the report next Tuesday and is expected to push for sanctions against Syria.

Referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad and his relatives in positions of power, Peres said: "If it is true that the government is involved in the murder, this will shake up the rule of the Assads."

He noted that it is "not natural or acceptable" for a family representing a small minority to rule Syria in what he said was a brutal fashion.

Meanwhile, Israeli politicians, including Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of Israel's Knesset (parliament), and Ephraim Halevy, former chief of the Mossad espionage agency, also called for a regime change in Damascus.

Hariri was killed in a car bomb blast in Beirut on Feb. 14 and the killing sparked massive anti-Syrian protests and led to Syrian troops' withdrawal from neighboring Lebanon in April after 39 years of military presence.

Many Lebanese blamed Syria and its Lebanese allies for the murder, but Damascus has denied any role. Syria's Information Minister Mahdi Dakhl-Allah said on Friday that the just-released UN report was politically motivated.

Source: Xinhua