US Keeps Satellite Images Related to Hariri Killing: Paper

US Keeps Satellite Images Related to Hariri Killing: Paper
CAIRO, April 29, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The United States has snubbed an official Lebanese request to hand over satellite images on the site where former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri was assassinated, a Lebanese newspaper reported on Friday, April 29.
Lebanon has cent written requests to the EU, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the US requesting satellite images on the crime seen, Al-Nahar said quoting foreign diplomatic sources in Beirut.
All parties, bar the United States, sent official memos denying possession of such images, they added.
While acknowledging, in writing, possessing such satellite images, Washington declined the Lebanese request.
The memo suggested that the United States might reconsider its position if the same request was made by UN investigation committee.
“The American response means Washington has photos snapped by satellites that roam the skies of Lebanon and the region before and after Hariri's assassination,” said the sources.
Hariri was killed in a massive bomb blast in Beirut that also killed 20 others on February 14.
Washington has intensified pressures on Syria since the killing, pushing for the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1559 on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon, a clear reference to Syrian forces.
Damascus completed the pullout of its troops from Lebanon earlier this week in compliance with pledges made to the UN.
“Key Evidence”
The diplomatic sources said the US satellite images could prove key evidence in the probe.
They added that the Americans might be following up the issue secretly, citing relevant hints by American officials in Washington and Beirut, including those made by State Department Undersecretary David Satterfield.
Washington has repeatedly expressed deep interest in identifying the assassin of Hariri.
The report came one day after the arrival of a five-member UN advance team in Beirut for investigations ordered by the Security Council.
An initial fact-finding mission found Lebanon's own probe seriously flawed and declared Syria, with its troop presence, primarily responsible for the political tension preceding the assassination.
In March, Al-Arabiya news channel broadcast a videotape that it said showed images recorded seconds before the explosion that killed Hariri.
The 90-second tape, which was reportedly recorded by a nearby bank security camera, did not capture the detonation itself.
On it, a white pickup truck -- moving at about a quarter the speed of surrounding vehicles -- enters into camera range. Moments later, the camera records what appears to be the final movements of Hariri's doomed convoy of black vehicles.