Two Syrian intelligence officers are giving evidence in Vienna again to the UN commission investigating the murder of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister. The two officials are Syria's former head of intelligence in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazale, and his deputy, retired colonel Samih Kashaami, both of whom were heard by the commission in December. "I think it has begun," Syria's ambassador in Austria, Safwan Ghanem, told AFP, adding he did not expect the hearings to last beyond Monday. The December hearings involved three other Syrians: Abdelkarim Abbas, head of intelligence in Palestine, Zaher Yussef, head of communications and Jameh Jameh, another of Ghazale's deputies. The commission, led since last week by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, also wants to speak to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shareh.
UN investigators have grilled the former Syrian intelligence chief in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazaleh, and his deputy over former Lebanese premier Rafiq Haririâs murder, Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Tuesday. Ghazaleh and Jameh Jameh were heard Monday behind closed doors at UN offices in Vienna, where three other Syrian witnesses are also due to be probed by the UN team, the London-based Arabic daily said. It said the head of the Palestinian affairs department in the Syrian intelligence services, Abdelkarim Abbas, communications chief