Mehlis interrogates Syrian officials regarding Hariri assassination

Detlev Mehlis, the Chairman of the UN investigation committee on the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, asked at the beginning of his mission in Damascus to meet with 8 Syrian officials with the possibility of making inquiry of others.

The investigation team will hold its meeting in a secret place outside the capital Damascus and will listen to testimonies of Syrian officials who served in Lebanon at the time of the assassination in February and with other high ranking figures.

According to well-informed sourced sources in Damascus, the committee intends to inquire from the Syrian Minister of Interior and former chairman of the Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon Lt. Gen. Ghazi Kanaan, and his successor Maj. Gen. Rostom Ghazaleh who left Lebanon in April together with his two main assistants in Beirut Muhammad Khallouf and Jame Jame.

Mehlis's mission in Damascus will continue for several days. He is expected to announce results of his investigation by the end of October. Damascus once again denied any connections to the assassination of al-Hariri, stressing determination to collaborate with the committee because disclosing the reality falls in its interest to remove all doubts around it to this effect.

Mehlis's visit to Syria came after Lebanon detained four Lebanese senior officers in the course of the investigation to al-Hariri assassination. The lawyers of the four men said that their clients are not guilty, though the investigations have not ended it.