Syria demands probe into deaths of workers in Lebanon

DAMASCUS (AFP) — A Damascus newspaper has called for a probe into the killings of dozens of Syrian workers in Lebanon since the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.

The international probe into the assassination should also investigate the deaths of the workers, economic weekly Al-Iqtissadiya said, adding: "We want the truth so that the killers of the Syrian workers can be punished."

Thousands of Syrians worked in Lebanon before the Hariri murder but their numbers have shrunk amid a crisis in ties between Beirut and its former powerbroker in Damascus.

After the murder of Hariri, a killing which several anti-Syrian leaders in Lebanon have blamed on Damascus, the Syrian government says almost 40 of its workers have been killed in ...