Hariri probe head meets Syrian FM

Mr Brammertz took over as head of the UN probe last month

The head of the UN investigation into the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri has met Syria's foreign minister in Damascus, Syria's news agency says.

Talks between Serge Brammertz and Walid al-Muallim on "the means to advance the mission of the commission of inquiry" yielded "positive results", Sana said.

The inquiry has implicated Syrian and Lebanese officials in the killing.

A UN Security Council resolution has threatened further action unless Syria co-operates fully with the probe.

Mr Brammertz's spokeswoman said he had held "a good meeting" with Syrian officials, but did not say who they were.

"He held a working meeting with Syrian officials in which old and new issues of co-operation were discussed," Nasrat Hasan said.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice increased international pressure on Syria by insisting on "full co-operation" with the UN investigation.

"Full co-operation means the Syrians should co-operate in any way the investigators of Mr Brammertz think necessary," she told reporters during a brief visit to the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Mr Brammertz, the former deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, replaced German magistrate Detlev Mehlis as head of the UN investigation in January.

Mr Muallim succeeded Farouk al-Sharaa as Syrian foreign minister on 11 February after Mr Sharaa was appointed vice-president.