Though without veto power, Qatar's opposition to the draft resolution to set up an international trial for the suspects involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri effectively puts the emirate on the side of the Syrian-backed Hezbollah-led Lebanese opposition that does not want an international tribunal.

The opposition insists on trying the suspects in Lebanon or for the international tribunal to be endorsed by the country's parliament only after a U.N. inquiry into the assassination is concluded. But House Speaker Nabih Berri, part of the opposition alliance, has refused to convene parliament since five Shiite ministers resigned from the government last year.

The United States, Britain and France submitted the draft resolution on Friday to set up the international tribunal after Lebanon's constitutional institutions failed to endorse it.

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said in Cairo Tuesday that his country will not support a resolution "rejected by the majority of the Lebanese as we see the parties struggling over the jurisdiction of the tribunal ... We refuse for Lebanon to enter a dark tunnel, and if there is no Lebanese consensus for this tribunal, something unexpected will happen."

Some Lebanese pro-government parties have accused Qatar of trying to obstruct the establishment of the tribunal because of its close ties to Iran and Syria.

In an interview with Asharq al Awsat newspaper Parliament majority leader Saad Hariri , son of the slain PM rafik Hariri was very critical of the state of Qatar , predicting they will vote at the UN against the creation of the Hariri International tribunal.

Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt last Sunday also criticized the Emir of Qatar for comparing the Lebanese army in its siege of the Naher Bared refugee camp to the Israeli army.

Jumblatt also questioned how the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa could present himself as a “national hero” who ended the Israeli military siege on Lebanon in last summer’s war whilst he arrived in Beirut from Israel.

According to Asharq al Awsat the American airplanes that had supplied Israel with smart bombs had departed from Qatar during last summer’s Israel-Lebanon war.

According to analysts Qatar's decision in siding with the Iranian and Syrian allies will be considered a major disappointment to all its Arabian Gulf neighbors that strongly support the government of Prime Minister Foaud Siniora and the March 14 alliance.

Picture: Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa, Emir of Qatar with president Bashar Assad, during his visit to Syria following the end of the summer war in Lebanon.

Sources: UPI