The sources added that this is "the first time Eid has interrogated the three witnesses, who have already been questioned by the UN investigating team" looking into Hariri's murder. The sources added that the head of the UN team, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis "is currently preparing a road map for his next step of interrogating Syrian officers." Mehlis is expected to start his interrogation of the Syrian officers next week, after agreeing on Monday the procedure of the interrogations with the Syrian Foreign Ministry. It is understood that the former heads of Syria's recently dismantled intelligence apparatus in Lebanon will be among the those questioned by Mehlis. Brigadier Generals Ghazi Kenaan and Rustom Ghazaleh, in addition to Generals Jamaa Jamaa and Mohammad Khallouf, are expected to be top of the interrogation list.
Kenaan is the current Syrian interior minister, but served as Damascus' military intelligence chief in Lebanon from 1982 to 2002. Ghazaleh was his successor until Syria's military and intelligence units withdrew from Lebanon on April 26, amid mounting international pressure. Jamaa and Khallouf were heads of central intelligence units in Lebanon during the 29 years of Syrian military presence in Lebanon. The sources added that Mehlis' questions "would most probably aim at establishing a link between the four arrested top Lebanese security officers and the Syrian officers."
So far, Mehlis' interrogations have led to the arrest of Lebanon's Major General Ali Hajj, Brigadier General Raymond Azar, Brigadier General Mustafa Hamdan, and Major General Jamil Sayyed, former heads of the Internal Security Forces, Military Intelligence, Presidential Guards and General Security, respectively. All four have been charged by the Judiciary with planning the assassination and are currently awaiting trial in Roumieh prison. Sources have indicated that more arrests are expected which is why some "24 prison cells have been prepared to hold the new detainees." On Tuesday, local newspaper Al-Balad reported that Sayyed had issued some 170 "normal and diplomatic" passports to Syrian intelligence agents and officers, and that the names of these personnel have been listed at borders and airports to stop them having freedom of movement.
Former MP, Nasser Qandil, who was questioned several times by the UN team, remains a suspect while Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah reported that "this MP has given a primary and dangerous confession and has promised to reveal the perpetrators if he gets international protection." Al-Seyassah also reported that a source close to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told the newspaper that some "six to 10 suspects have been named in the assassination," adding their punishment would be the "death penalty if they are prosecuted in Lebanon or a maximum of 30 years imprisonment if judged by an international tribunal." Al-Seyassah's UN sources added that there is an almost definite impression that the most important figures in the crime are four people "two Lebanese and two Syrians" naming these as "Hamdan, Sayyed, Kenaan and Ghazaleh."