Detlev Mehlis Has No Doubts

This from the Washington Post:

The chief U.N. investigator into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said in remarks published Saturday that he believed Syrian authorities were behind the killing.

It was the first time that Detlev Mehlis has unequivocally accused Syria of responsibility for Hariri's assassination since opening the U.N. probe in June.

Asked by the London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat if he was firmly convinced that Syria was behind Hariri's killing, Mehlis replied, "Yes."

Asked whether he was directly accusing the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Mehlis said, "Let's say the Syrian authorities." He declined to elaborate.

Mehlis is leaving his post to return to Germany, where he is a prosecutor, so he can afford to be somewhat blunter than he has been in his two reports up to now, both of which nevertheless point to the same conclusion. He will by most accounts be replaced by a Belgian prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, whose CV is here. And here is the Mehlis interview in Arabic, for those who can read it.