UNITED NATIONS, Nov 26: The United Nations on Saturday welcomed an agreement reached between Detlev Mehlis, who heads the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, and the Syrian government under which Damascus agreed to let Mr Mehlis interrogate five of its officials in Vienna.

A UN spokesman said Secretary-General Kofi Annan was ‘very pleased’ with the outcome and expected Syria’s cooperation to continue throughout Mr Mehlis’s investigation.

The Security Council endorsed last week an extension of the Mehlis commission’s mandate until Dec 15.

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