RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

We turn now to the Middle East and to stories of those heading West. But first, an update on an assassination in Lebanon that it's blaming on its neighbor, Syria. A UN commission investigating the killing nearly a year ago of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, is seeking to meet with Syria's president and foreign minister. That commission would also like to talk to a former Syrian vice president, Abdel-Halim Khaddam. In a broadcast interview, he said President Basshar Assad had threatened Hariri several months before he was assassinated in Beirut. Khaddam resigned in June and is now living in Paris. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.