DAMASCUS, Sept. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Syria reiterated readiness Sunday to cooperate fully with a UN team in charge of investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

    "(Chief of the UN team) Detlev Mehlis arrives in Damascus tomorrow. ... Syria will cooperate with him and extend all possible facilities to the international commission of inquiry," a well-informed source was quoted as saying by the official SANA news agency.

    "It is in the interests of Syria to reach the truth on the crime of Rafik Hariri's assassination," the source said.   Meanwhile, the official newspaper al-Thawra said Syria would "cooperate in a serious and responsible manner" with Mehlis.

    The paper, however, expressed "fear that the Mehlis mission could become politicized ... to achieve political objectives that threaten the security of the region and its future".  

    It warned that the plotters of the Hariri killing had "political objectives targeting the stability of Lebanon and Syria as well as the brotherly relations between the two countries". 

    Mehlis is expected to meet with Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan, who was former Syrian military intelligence chief in Lebanon, his successor Rustom Ghazaleh, who left Lebanon along with the Syrian troops in April, and two key aides in Beirut, Mohammed Makhlouf and Jamaa Jamaa.

    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has pledged full cooperation with the UN investigation, saying Mehlis could question anyone he would like to.

    Hariri was killed in a car bomb blast in Beirut on Feb. 14 and the killing sparked massive anti-Syrian protest and led to Syrian troops' withdrawal from Lebanon in April after 39 years of military presence. Many Lebanese blamed Syria and its Lebanese allies for the murder, but Damascus denied any role in it. Enditem