Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid al-Mualem was touring the Gulf yesterday for Arab support on the eve of a United Nations meeting to discuss possible sanctions against Damascus. In an effort to head off a tough draft Security Council resolution backed by the United States and France, Syria launched its own investigation on Saturday into the killing of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

The inquiry, ordered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, will question Syrian civilians and military personnel and cooperate with a UN inquiry that has already implicated senior Syrian officials in the assassination, officials said. Mualem delivered a letter to King Abdullah from Assad on Saturday evening about Saudi Arabia’s support at a meeting of Security Council foreign ministers today, which is expected to demand Syria cooperate or risk economic sanctions.

Assad discussed the issue with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during Mubarak’s surprise visit to Damascus on Friday. Egypt, which along with Saudi Arabia is a main US ally and power broker in the region, says it wants to defuse tension between Syria and the United States.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara left for New York yesterday. He will meet UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other foreign ministers. Detlev Mehlis, leading the UN investigation, urged Syria at a Security Council meeting last week to set up its own probe and to cooperate with international investigators.

Syria denies involvement and dismisses Mehlis’s report as politicised, but is under intense international pressure. The United States and France say they are confident that today’s meeting will adopt a tough Security Council resolution against Syria, though Russia and China stillhave misgivings. The draft threatens economic sanctions against Syria if it does not cooperate with the UN probe and imposes a travel ban and a freeze on overseas assets of suspects.

The UN report found this month the decision to kill Hariri “could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials” colluding with Lebanese officials. It named senior Syrian security officials including Assad’s brother and brother-in-law and their Lebanese allies as possible suspects in the truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.