DAMASCUS, Jan. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Syria has frozen the assets of former Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam who recently accused Syrian President of being involved in the killing of Lebanese ex-premier Rafik Hariri, the official al-Thawra newspaper reported on Thursday.

   The decree came after a unanimous parliamentary vote on Saturday urging the government to put Khaddam on trial for high treason and corruption.

   On Sunday, Syria's ruling al-Baath party expelled Khaddam, a veteran aide to Syria's late President Hafez al-Assad.

   Khaddam, who lives in Paris with his family after stepping down last June, said in an interview with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television that President Bashar al-Assad had threatened Hariri just months before he was assassinated in a car bomb blast on Feb. 14, 2005.

   Khaddam said the Syrian intelligence services could not have carried out such an operation without Assad being informed.

   The UN probe into Hariri's killing has asked to quiz President Bashar and foreign minister Farouk al-Shara over Khaddam's claim.

   An interim UN report implicated Syrian officials in Hariri's murder last October, while the UN Security Council demanded Syria cooperate fully with the international probe or face unspecified further action.

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

   The UN Security Council decided to extend the probe for six months until June. 15.

   Syria, however, denies any role in the killing and dismissed the UN charge of slow cooperation as "inaccurate." Enditem