UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The latest UN report probing the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri provided new evidence on Monday which implicated that Syria failed to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation.

    ;The 25-page report, which was presented to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday and delivered to the Security Council on Monday morning, called upon Syria to cooperate fully and unconditionally with the commission which is in charge of the investigation.

    "Syria should pursue its own investigation in an earnest and professional manner and respond to the commission in a timely way,fully and unconditionally, before it is determined whether it is complying in full with the provisions of resolution 1636 (2005)," the report said.

    The commission, led by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, also urged the Syrian authority to detain any Syrian officials or nationals considered as suspects by the commission.

    According to the report, the commission has met more than 500 witnesses, confirmed a list of 19 suspects, and analyzed a voluminous bulk of materials.

    "After arduous discussions and considerable delay due to procedural maneuvering and sometimes contradictory feedback" from Syria, five Syrian officials, who were among the suspects, were finally questioned by UN investigators with the interview of the sixth being postponed, the report said.

    The commission also said that Syria tried to obstruct the probe by demanding that the commission revise its report after a crucial witness recanted his testimony.

    "This was, at least, an attempt to hinder the investigation internally and procedurally," the commission noted, reiterating that there existed a number of personal and political motives for the assassination of Hariri.

    Meanwhile, the commission also recommended that "given that its substantive lines of inquiry are far from being completed, and given the slow pace with which the Syrian authorities are beginning to discharge their commitment to the Council," the probe extended for six months.

    In a letter written on Monday by Annan to the President of the Security Council with the transmission of the report, the secretary-general said the commission's efforts have only recently begun to bear fruit after delays which had an impact on the commission's ability to effectively carry out its work.

    He thanked Mehlis for his work during the process of the investigation, and promised to choose, as soon as possibly, a successor of Mehlis, who decided to resign and return to Germany after briefing the Security Council on Tuesday. Enditem