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UN investigators to Syria on eve of Hariri's death anniversary

Other News Materials 13 February 2009 19:17 (UTC +04:00)

A large group of UN investigators probing the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri headed to Syria's capital Friday for debriefings related to the UN investigation, a Lebanese security source said, dpa reported.

The source said that the investigators left their headquarters in north-east Beirut in a four-car convoy, passing through the Masnaa border crossing on their way to Damascus.

Future News Television, which is owned by Hariri's family, quoted security sources as saying "urgent requirements" led to the unexpected visit to Syria. The broadcaster did not specify who was scheduled for debriefing.

The UN commission was set up to probe the February 14, 2005 assassination of Hariri. Hariri was killed along with 20 other people when his motorcade was targeted by a massive blast in a seaside district of Beirut.

Hariri's followers and allies are planning a massive rally in downtown Beirut for Saturday to commemorate the four-year anniversary of his death.

Followers of Hariri have accused Syria and its allies in Lebanon of plotting and carrying out the assassination. Damascus has vehemently denied such accusations.

Investigators have already met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. They have also questioned several Syrian officials who were involved in Lebanese affairs.

Hariri's assassination, which caused a local and international outcry, led Syria to end its 30-year military presence in its small neighbor on April 26, 2005. Since then, relations between Beirut and Damascus have been tense.

Meanwhile, sources in Beirut said the four Lebanese judges who will be present at the International Tribunal hearing the case in Hariri's death would be sworn in at the court headquarters in The Hague by March 15.

On November 28, 2008, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he expects the international tribunal to start operating on March 1.

But in a report to the UN Security Council, Ban said his final decision on a starting date will be influenced by the response to his appeal for additional funding for the second and third year of the tribunal's operation.

A judicial source in Beirut said that some of the major witnesses in the Hariri case have already been transferred to The Hague and are currently "under the witness protection program."

Names of the witnesses would only be disclosed after their families are moved to a safe location, he added.

As for the fate of four Lebanese generals arrested in connection with the Hariri assassination, the source said "the coming days will decide the fate of those generals."

The four generals are Jamil Sayyed, Ali Hajj, Raymond Azar and Mustafa Hamdan, who respectively headed the General Security Department, the Internal Security Forces, Military Intelligence and the Presidential Guards Brigade.

The source said the generals and three jailed civilian suspects - Lebanese brothers Ahmed and Mahmoud Abdul Aal and Syrian Ibrahim Jarjoura - would be under the international tribunal's jurisdiction prior to the start of court hearings."

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