CAIRO, Dec. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Arab League (AL) chief Amr Moussa on Sunday denied that he was brokering a deal to clear Syria of the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in return for a promise from Damascus not to destabilize Lebanon.

    Moussa dismissed as "unfounded" reports that he was proposing a plan for concluding an international probe of the assassination of Hariri in exchange for a Syrian pledge to end assassinations in Lebanon.

    "There was no deal to conceal the truth behind Hariri's killing," Moussa said in a statement.

    The Feb. 14 killing in the Lebanese capital Beirut led to anti-Syria protests in Lebanon and eventually the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April after a 29-year presence.

    A recent UN report said that Syria's cooperation with the international investigation committee over the killing was slow-paced, and five Syrian officials questioned by the committee in Vienna were suspects.

    The UN Security Council demanded that Damascus offer full and all necessary cooperation with the international probe.
Syria denies any role in the killing and dismissed the UN allegation as "inaccurate." Enditem