Hariri's son welcomes tribunal support from UN (Extra)

May 30, 2007, 22:31 GMT

Beirut - The head of the anti-Syrian majority Saad Hariri, son of the late five-time premier Rafik Hariri, welcomed the UN vote on Wednesday to set up the international court to try the suspects in his father's case.

'Let's all join hands in defending the international tribunal ... as an opportunity for all Lebanese to unite,' said Hariri, as he was addressing the pro-Syrian opposition in a television statement.

'Enough is enough with division ... ,' he said.

The UN Security Council voted 10-0 Wednesday to establish a controversial tribunal for suspects in the murder of Hariri and other political killings in Lebanon.

Hariri and 20 other people were killed in a massive bomb blast in February 2005, widely blamed on neighbouring Syria, which was later forced to end nearly 30 years of military and political domination of its neighbour Lebanon.

The government has accused the pro-Syrian camp of trying to bloc the formation of the court to protect their Syrian allies.

Lebanon's politics have since the Hariri assassination been snarled up in a standoff between the pro-Western government and the groups allied with Syria that have blocked Seniora's request for the creation of a tribunal to try the Hariri case.

The conflict has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone and erupted into street battles, killing 11 people in January 2007.

Minutes after Hariri spoke to the Lebanese, Lebanon's premier Fouad Seniora, a close Friend of Hariri, said in broadcast remarks that the 'tribunal would allow for the truth and justice.'

Seniora stressed that the establishment of the tribunal is not directed 'against sister Syria,' the powerbroker in Lebanon at the time of the assassination.

'Lebanon is not the homeland of any party, group, sect, or religion, it is the country of all Lebanese,' Seniora said.