Syria, once a power-broker in neighboring Lebanon, was forced into predicament after the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Many Lebanese believe that Syrian military and intelligence forces, which have penetrated into the Lebanese society, were behind the Feburary 14 car bombing that took lives of Hariri and 20 others.

Following the tragedy, anti-Syrian emotions ran high as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese took to the street to protest against presence of Syrian forces in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the US, which has long blacklisted Damascus as a state sponsoring terrorism, along with other western powers, exerted mounting pressure on Syria and pressed for a full pullout.

Some analysts said the Hariri murder was seen by the US as a "good chance" to force a policy change from Damascus, which is regarded by Washington as a hindrance to its Mideast strategy.

Syria, which has been under US economic sanctions since May 2004, had to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in late April, ending its 29-year-old military presence.

The UN Security Council then adopted Resolution 1595 to set up an international investigation committee into the killing and Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor, was in May appointed as head of the committee.

On October 20, Mehlis submitted an interim report to the UN, accusing Syria of being involved in Hariri's killing, a charge rejected by Damascus as politically motivated.

Syria set up its own judicial commission in late October in a bid to avoid international sanctions as threatened in a draft UN resolution sponsored by the US, France and Britain.

The three, however, dropped the wording of economic sanctions at the last moment to secure a unanimous vote. Resolution 1636 was then adopted by the Security Council on October 31, demanding that Syria fully cooperate with the probe or face unspecified "further action."

In early November, Mehlis requested to question six Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law and powerful military intelligence chief Assef Shawkat, in his headquarters in eastern Beirut.

Damascus rejected the idea and proposed instead to hold the inquiries either in UN offices in Syria or the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, while Assad expressed distrust of Mehlis' probe and hit back at external pressure.

Mehlis rejected Damascus' proposal to first sign a cooperation protocol before agreeing on the venue of questioning.

Unexpectedly, Syria agreed on November 25 to let the committee question five officials at UN offices in Vienna to avoid a showdown with the UN after mediation from Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Syria said it accepted the "compromise" proposal after it received reassurances that its sovereignty will be respected and rights of the individuals guaranteed.

On December 13, Syria dismissed Mehlis' second UN report that Damascus' cooperation with the probe into Hariri's killing was slow-paced.

"We think that remarks in the UN report that said Syria was slow-paced in fully cooperating with the probe of the international investigation committee are inaccurate," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Mehlis submitted his second report to the Security Council one day earlier, which found "new evidence" that further implicated Syria in Hariri's death. The report also accused Syria of hampering the investigation with "reluctance and delay."

Local analysts say that Syria would tread the line of cooperation and resistance to go out of the tunnel.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2005)