BEIRUT: Serge Brammertz, the head of the UN probe investigating the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, "is expected to meet with the Syrian leadership this weekend," judicial sources said Friday. The sources added that Brammertz "will also be meeting with several Syrian officials," without identifying them, and that "he will be requesting answers regarding new-found evidence and important information."The UN probe's spokesperson told The Daily Star in a telephone interview that the investigation had no comment on Brammertz's moves or the course of his work. One of the reports circulating in the Lebanese media on Friday said that "Brammertz will most likely meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Syrian Vice-President Farouq al-Sharaa on Sunday." Lebanese daily An-Nahar quoted a Syrian source as saying that the meeting with Assad would be "an ordinary one that is part of Assad's regular reception of visitors." The paper added: "The president will also brief Brammertz on developments in Syrian-Lebanese relations."
Brammertz has already made two trips to Syria, during which he met with Sharaa and Riad Daoudi, the legal advisor to the Syrian Foreign Ministry. He has also met with Daoudi in Beirut. In a report which he presented to the UN Security Council in mid-March, Brammertz said he would be meeting with Assad and Sharaa in April.