Syria confirms meeting with chief UN investigator over Hariri probe

An official of the Syrian Foreign Ministry on Friday held a meeting with the chief UN investigator in Spain over the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the official Tishrin daily confirmed on Saturday.

Foreign Ministry legal advisor Riad al-Daoudi discussed legal mechanism of questioning Syrian officials in the case with German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis in the Spanish city of Barcelona. But the paper did not give further details.

Previous reports said they would discuss Damascus' proposal to question six Syrian security and intelligence officials at offices of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights.

The UNDOF offices are on the Syrian soil in a buffer zone on the Golan Heights. The offices were set up after the 1973 Arab- Israeli war to maintain a ceasefire between Israel and Syria.

The Golan Heights, with a total area of 1,860 square kilometers, was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and the Jewish state still holds about two thirds of the heights after its withdrawal from some parts after the 1973 war.

The buffer zone is off limits to armed forces of both sides.

Mehlis raised a request to question the six, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, in his headquarters in Beirut, which was refused by Damascus.

Syria, however, proposed to carry out the interrogation either in a third country such as the Egyptian capital of Cairo or in UN offices in Damascus, which Mehlis did not agree.

Mehlis submitted an interim report to the United Nations on Oct. 20, which implicated involvement of Syrian security and intelligence official in the killing of Hariri in a massive car bomb blast in Beirut in February.

Syria rejected the allegation as politically motivated, but it promised to cooperate with the probe.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1636 on Oct. 31, demanding Syria fully cooperate with the probe or face " further action."

Source: Xinhua