[JURIST] John Bolton [official profile], the US ambassador to the United Nations (UN) [official website], said Friday that the US remains concerned about Syrian government interference [text of remarks] with the UN probe [UN materials] into the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive]. Bolton met Friday with Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz [UN profile], the former deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who is leading the UN probe after taking over for German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis last month.

Bolton declined to discuss the specifics of his conversation with Brammertz but said the US will continue to watch the situation "very closely." No one has been formally charged in connection with Hariri's death, though Mehlis' early reports to the UN Security Council have implicated Syrian officials [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.