The United Nations Security Council is expected to approve a resolution authorising an inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
The 15-nation council could adopt the measure unanimously after its drafters, the United States and France, fine-tuned its language to reassure Beirut that investigators would not impinge on its sovereignty, diplomats said after talks yesterday.
A UN fact-finding mission recommended the independent inquiry after concluding that Lebanon's inquiry into Mr Hariri's February 14th assassination in a Beirut bombing suffered from "serious flaws" and could not reach a credible conclusion.
The mission also blamed Syrian military intelligence "for a lack of security, protection and law and order" in Lebanon at the time of Mr Hariri's death.
Syria is widely blamed by Lebanese opposition politicians for his killing after he accused Damascus of meddling in Beirut's internal politics.
Damascus has exerted almost unchallenged control over Lebanon for three decades. But it promised UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen this week that it would withdraw its military and intelligence forces by April 30th in line with an earlier Security Council resolution adopted in September.
Five other council members had asked that the inquiry be limited to three months rather than the six months proposed by Paris and Washington.
As a compromise, the new draft gave investigators three months to complete their work but said their mandate could be renewed for at most another three months.