Assad: Any Indictment in a Split Country is Destructive, Hariri 'The Best' for This Period

Syrian President Bashar Assad has described Premier Saad Hariri as the right person for the period Lebanon is currently going through, stressing that Hariri is capable of overcoming the problems under the present circumstances.

Assad also believed that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is a Lebanese affair, adding that Damascus has no idea when the indictment in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri would be issued.

"In Lebanon, talk about the indictment looks as though the decision will be issued in an ordinary crime, when the decision is related to a national crime and in a country divided along sectarian lines would wreak havoc and destruction for everybody and could destroy the country," Assad said in an interview with pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper.

He denied there was any dispute with Hariri. "The gateways of Damascus are open to him," he said.

Assad stressed on a state-to-state relationship with Lebanon, urging the various Lebanese parties to resort to dialogue.

The Syrian leader denied that the issue of a Lebanon Cabinet change had been raised with any of the Lebanese leaders who visited Damascus over the last few days.

Asked about the Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat's lastest visit to Syria, Assad expressed his satisfaction with Jumblat's stances, noting that the Druze leader has returned to "the Walid we used to know in the past."