Damascus  - In its own cautious way, the Syrian government in Damascus has, of late, been coming out of its shell.

The country, once an implacable enemy of Israel, occupier of neighbouring Lebanon for three decades, and international pariah, has been the centre of some diplomatic flurry in recent months.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has visited. So has a delegation of European Union officials and foreign ministers. Arab League chief Amr Mussa, from Egypt, a country with often fraught relations with Syria, now seeks Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's counsel.

But the most prized achievement of the Syrian establishment must be Assad's meeting with US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, in Damascus earlier in February.

Syria is even cautiously optimistic of an eventual return of the Golan Heights from Israel - a possible new right-wing government in Jerusalem notwithstanding.

So on the question of Syria's involvement or otherwise in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, and the allegations bound to surface now that the UN's Special Tribunal for Lebanon is due to open in The Hague to investigate the crime, it's hardly surprising that Damascus is saying little.

The tribunal is not reflected in the Syrian media. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallim commented that it was an "internal Lebanese affair." It remains practically impossible to get a statement on the record from any Syrian official on the matter, and the topic is seldom discussed in the atmosphere of surveillance that purveys in large parts of Syrian society.

However, one lawyer close to the Syrian government, who spoke to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on the condition of anonymity, said coyly that "like others, Syria is keen to find out who killed Hariri."

The silence on Hariri's assassination and the possible suspects behind it comes amid a marked improvement in relations between Syria and Lebanon, following the former's military pullout in 2005 after nearly thirty years of occupation.

In October 2008 Lebanese President Michel Suleiman agreed with his Syrian counterpart to establish diplomatic ties - the first since Lebanon gained its independence in
1943.

In some quarters, there is even optimism that Syria will cooperate with the tribunal when it begins its investigations in full.

In Damascus on February 25, EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said that "we hope all sides cooperate with the special tribunal. We heard from Syria that Damascus is moving toward cooperating with the tribunal as well."

It isn't at all clear, however, whether or not that cooperation would extend to handing over any of its citizens in the event that they are indicted by the tribunal. Damascus has said repeatedly in the past that it would not do any such thing.

But, if previous UN reports on the Hariri killing indicate the nature of the case that will begin to be prised open in The Hague, indictments of top Syrian officials are likely.

In a draft version of a report prepared by the UN's appointed investigator Detlev Mehlis in late 2005, the names of five senior Lebanese and Syrian officials leaked out when the previous edits of the electronic document were not deleted.

Among the names were Maher al-Assad, the Syrian president's brother, and senior security official Assef Shawqat, the president's brother-in-law.

No official indictments have been made as yet, although a formal request is expected to be made for the transfer of four Lebanese top military officials to The Hague.

In Beirut, the majority political current led by Rafik Hariri's son Saad, has already decided that Syria is guilty of ordering the former premier's death. They also blame Damascus for a spate of other assassinations and attacks that took place against anti-Syrian voices before and after Hariri's death.

The dominant line amongst sources close to the Syrian government questioned by dpa was that if the Hague tribunal remains merely legal, and not "politicized," then Syria has nothing to worry about, especially as Syria had made "every effort" to cooperate with the successive UN investigative teams since 2005.

So the current mood of rapprochement between Syria and the west could easily be soured by bad news from The Hague, unless Damascus does indeed hand over suspects, if asked. However, with so many other issues on its mind, Syria is, for now, keeping mum. (dpa)