Syria: We'll cooperate fully with U.N.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said on Monday that Damascus was keen to cooperate with a United Nations probe into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Syria last month dismissed a U.N. report implicating Syrian officials in the murder, saying it was politically motivated.

On Monday, Shara "affirmed that Syria is keen on cooperating fully with the international investigation committee and installing the appropriate mechanisms to do so," official news agency SANA said.

It did not say if Syria would comply with the inquiry's request to question six Syrian officials in Lebanon, one of whom is a brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to a Lebanese source.

'Committee should be professional'

The request by chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis appeared designed to test Syria's willingness to comply with a Security Council resolution demanding full cooperation with the probe into the February 14 assassination of Hariri.

Addressing a meeting of parties allied to the ruling Baathists, Shara said the "work of the international investigation committee should be professional and seek to find the truth", SANA reported. He did not elaborate.

Mehlis, the German prosecutor who won fresh powers from the Security Council to carry on with the probe, has complained that Syrian security figures interviewed in Damascus in September appeared to give only prepared responses.

The meeting of the National Progressive Front (NPF) ruling party also tackled a proposed law to allow the creation of political parties in an effort to widen popular participation in Syrian politics, said the news agency.