Syrian president to meet Hariri assassination investigators

Syria has agreed to fully cooperate with the United Nations authorized probe into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, including arranging a meeting this month with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the chief investigator said in a report.

The meeting, which will take place in the next few weeks, could help to lift immediate international pressure on the Syrian regime but will also inject fresh momentum into the UN inquiry.

The report by UN chief investigator Serge Brammertz said Damascus had provided responses on a number of specific issues raised by the commission, indicating for instance that it had examined the archives of Syrian military intelligence and reviewed records related to the political situation in Lebanon as requested.

"The Syrian government has, in particular in the last three months, formally complied with nearly all of the Commission's previous requests for assistance," the report says.

Syria has agreed to provide all documents, physical evidence and testimony requested by the inquiry, and will arrest anyone implicated in Hariri's assassination, according to Brammertz.

Describing the "common understanding" he had reached with Syria, Brammertz said, "Despite these encouraging steps, it is important to note that the commission will ultimately judge cooperation of the Syrian authorities on the merits of the information provided and the promptness with which its requests are being accommodated.

Syria has insisted from the start that it was offering the investigators its full cooperation, but it has simultaneously conducted a campaign to discredit the inquiry.

Brammertz made his first trip to Damascus on February 23 where he met with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.