DAMASCUS, Dec. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reasserted on Tuesday that his country was innocent in the killing of Lebanese ex-premier Rafik Hariri and urged a UN probe to be objective and away from political pressures, reported the official SANA news agency.

    "For us in Syria, ... we think that this probe, when reaching the final result, will acquit Syria. This is in case it was objective, and far from political pressures," Assad was quoted as saying.

    Chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis has submitted two interim reports in October and December, which accused Syrian and Lebanese officials of involving in the murder of Hariri, an allegation denied by Damascus.

    The latest UN report in December said Syria's cooperation with the probe was slow-paced and five Syrian officials questioned by the UN in Vienna were suspects.

    Assad noted that the two reports were not final and only "a narrative of meetings with persons" who included both "real and false witnesses", calling for a professional UN report which could bring forth the real criminal of the crime.

    Meanwhile, he asserted that anyone who was convicted by the investigation would be treated as a traitor."I previously declared in a clear way that if there was a Syrian involved in any criminal action of these operations, he would be sued. This is, as I said in a previous interview, considered a treason in the Syrian law," Assad reiterated.

    Lebanon said on Tuesday that a Syrian man named Abdel-Qader Abdel-Qader was detained for his alleged involvement in the killing of the prominent anti-Syrian lawmaker Gebran Tueni earlier this month.

    Abdel-Qader was suspected of making a phone call before the bomb attack, which also killed three others in a Christian-dominated neighborhood in eastern Beirut on Dec. 12.

    Tueni's death has been the latest of a series of high-profile killings targeting anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon, which again inflamed anti-Syrian emotions in Lebanon.

    The Feb. 14 assassination of Hariri sparked large-scale anti-Syrian protests in Lebanon and eventually the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in late April.

    The UN Security Council demanded Damascus offer full and timely cooperation with the international probe. Syria, however, denies any role in the attacks and dismissed the UN charge of slow cooperation as "inaccurate." Enditem