BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denied suggestions made at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Thursday that his government had collaborated closely with the Americans. Throughout a day and a half of cross-examination, defense counsel Antoine Korkmaz referenced media reports, WikiLeaks documents and Siniora’s own statements to raise questions about the former prime minister’s political allegiances.

Korkmaz’s queries focused on the reportedly close partnership between Siniora and U.S. officials in Beirut in the wake of the summer 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Siniora rebuffed Korkmaz’s claims, however, and described the Americans as “a major power ... but they are not our allies as a political faction or party,” referring to the Future Movement which he leads.

Korkmaz spent a significant amount of time discussing with Siniora the exact words that Hariri had used to describe a fateful meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Over the past few months, a number of Hariri’s political allies have testified that Hariri was threatened by Assad in August 2004 and many have said that meeting marked a steep descent in the relationship between him and the Syrian regime.

But precisely what Assad told Hariri that day remains contested: Those who met with Hariri in the days and hours after his fateful trip to Damascus have offered slightly different descriptions of what Hariri said about the encounter.

Some witnesses testified that Hariri was told that “Assad will break Lebanon on the head of Rafik Hariri,” while others said that Assad threatened to “break Lebanon on the head of [then-French President Jacques] Chirac” who was a close friend and political ally of Hariri.

In court Thursday, Siniora explained that Hariri had recounted the incident in several different ways, all of which he had reported to the investigators.

“Prime Minister Hariri used all of these expressions when he told me what happened,” Siniora testified.

The lengthy dissection of this particular exchange between Hariri and Assad echoes the entire tenor of the prosecution’s argument, which has moved ever-closer toward suggesting the Syrian regime’s involvement in Hariri’s assassination.

While five Hezbollah members stand accused of plotting the blast that killed Hariri, along with 21 others on Feb. 14, 2005, no Syrians have been charged in relation to the crime.

At the end of his testimony, Siniora was asked about the different facets of Hezbollah.

He stated that even during his time as prime minister he had no official estimate as to the number of Hezbollah fighters in the country. Still, he said, “the military wing is very important, if not, the most prominent wing in the whole party.”

Next week two individuals who were traveling in Hariri’s convoy at the time of the blast will testify before the U.N.-backed tribunal. Their identities will not be made public.