DAMASCUS, Dec. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The Syrian parliament on Saturday unanimously voted for the trial of former vice president Abdel Halim Khaddam on charges of high treason after he accused President Bashar al-Assad of involving in the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.

    "We appeal to Justice Minister Mohammad Ghafri to bring Abdel Halim Khaddam before justice for high treason and to take the necessary measures," said speaker Mahmoud al-Abrash.

    Khaddam, who lives in Paris, said in an interview aired on Friday by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television that Assad had
threatened Hariri just months before he was assassinated in a car bomb blast on Feb. 14.

    Khaddam said the Syrian intelligence services could not have carried out such an operation without Assad being informed.Khaddam, veteran aide to Syria's late President Hafez al-Assad,stepped down in June.

    His remarks were a rare attack on the Syrian government by a former official, while a UN probe into Hariri's killing has implicated Syria in Hariri's murder.

    The UN Security Council demanded full Syrian cooperation with the international probe.

    Syria has denied any role in the killing and dismissed the UN charge of slow cooperation as "inaccurate." Enditem