Syria said on Saturday it was setting up a special judicial committee to investigate Syrians implicated in the killing of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
A Foreign Ministry source told Reuters the committee would cooperate with a United Nations inquiry that implicated senior Syrian officials in the murder on February 14 and with Lebanese judicial authorities.
Detlev Mehlis, the chief UN investigator into Hariri's murder, urged Syria this month to set up its own probe and to cooperate fully with international investigators.
Syria has denied any role in the killing of Hariri, dismissing the Mehlis report as politicised, but is under mounting international pressure to cooperate with the international investigators or face possible UN sanctions.
"The committee will cooperate with the International Independent Investigation Commission and the Lebanese judicial authorities in everything that relates to the investigative procedures," the source said.
"It will proceed with the investigation of Syrian civilians and military in everything that relates to the mission of the International Independent Investigation Commission."
The United States and France say they are confident a tough UN Security Council resolution against Syria will be adopted at a UN foreign ministers meeting on Monday, though Russia and China still have misgivings.
The resolution threatens economic sanctions against Damascus if it does not cooperate fully with the UN investigation and imposes a travel ban and freeze on overseas assets of those suspected in the killing.
The Syrian probe was set up through a legislative decree issued and signed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It takes effect immediately, the source said.
The Syrian investigation committee will be headed by its public prosecutor and include the military public prosecutor and a magistrate appointed by the justice minister.
The committee will also be allowed to call in other civilian and military magistrates to assist in the investigation.
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