AMMAN, Jordan, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Syria is confident that an international team probing the slaying of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri will not find evidence of Syria's involvement.
Amman's daily al-Arab al-Yom Tuesday quoted visiting Syrian Minister of Work and Social Affairs Diala Hajj as saying chief international investigator Detlev Mehlis "will not find any proof of Syria's involvement because Syria has no interest in assassinating Hariri."
Hajj said she hoped the report Mehlis is expected to issue on the results of his investigation would be purely a judicial exercise and not politically manipulated.
Mehlis, who interviewed several Syrian security officials who were responsible for Lebanon's security at the time of Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination in a massive Beirut blast, is expected to present his report to the U.N. Security Council by Oct. 25.
Hajj stressed that Syria had cooperated with Mehlis, providing him with all the information it possessed.
