By Roueida Mabardi
Damascus - The head of a United Nations inquiry into the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri arrived in Syria to question senior officials on Monday in a key test of the regime's readiness to co-operate following the arrest of four top allies in Lebanon.
German magistrate investigator Detlev Mehlis was due to hold talks with the foreign ministry's legal adviser Riad Daoudi before interrogating senior security chiefs who served in Lebanon before Syria's withdrawal in April, the official Sana news agency.
Mehlis is expected to interview Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan, who is a former military intelligence chief in Lebanon, his successor Rustom Ghazaleh, who left along with the Syrian troops in April, and two key aides in Beirut, Mohammed Makhlouf and Jamaa Jamaa.
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The four served as the main pillars of the security network Syria set up in Lebanon to consolidate its long domination.
The German magistrate has insisted that no Syrian suspect has been identified, while also saying that he believes there are "more people involved" than the four Lebanese security chiefs arrested so far.
The four pro-Damascus commanders held in Lebanon are presidential guard chief Mustafa Hamdan, former general security boss Jamil al-Sayed, ex-internal security head Ali al-Hage and former army intelligence director Raymond Azar.
Mehlis, who was originally due in Syria on Saturday, met UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday.
"It's a good sign that he gets to go there," a UN spokesman said. "We'll have to see how much co-operation he gets."
Syrian officials have pledged to answer all questions put to them about the February bomb blast on the Beirut seafront that was widely blamed on Syria and its allies in the then Lebanese government.
"Syria will cooperate with him and extend all possible facilities to the international commission of inquiry," Sana said ahead of the visit.
"It is in the interests of Syria to reach the truth on the crime of Rafiq Hariri's assassination."
An official daily, Ath-Thawra, said Syria would "co-operate in a serious and responsible manner".
"Mr Mehlis will discover that Syria is more committed than the UN to the security and stability of Lebanon," the daily said.
"The judicial and technical evidence will prove Syria had nothing to do with this horrible crime".
However, Ath-Thawra expressed "fear that the Mehlis mission could become politicised... to achieve political objectives that threaten the security of the region and its future".
The paper referred to "Israel's longstanding objectives for which it has worked so hard by planning and practising terrorism".
Syria ended a 30-year troop presence in Lebanon in April in the face of the intense domestic and international pressure that followed Hariri's assassination.
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