DAMASCUS, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlullah denied on Thursday reports that President Bashar al-Assad refused to meet the United Nations commission investigating into the killing of Lebanese ex-premier Rafik Hariri.

    Dakhlullah termed the reports as a "misinterpretation", but asserted at the same time that Assad cannot be questioned by the UN team over the case.

    Dakhlullah said Assad could meet the UN team as long as Syria's sovereignty was not breached, adding that there was a difference between questioning and receiving visitors from Syria and outside the country.

    Earlier in the day, when asked if Syria rejected a meeting between Assad and the UN team, Dakhlullah told Egyptian radio, "certainly, because the issue is related to Syria's sovereignty...This is a red line that cannot be crossed."

    The Syrian minister also reaffirmed that Syria would continue its cooperation with the international investigation team, but also urged for UN requests based on acknowledged legal foundations and international immunities.

    Pressures on Syria aggravated again recently as former Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, who now lives in Paris with his family, accused Assad of being involved in Hariri's killing in a massive truck bomb in February 2004.

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

    Following the allegation, the UN commission in Beirut asked to interview Assad, Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara and other senior officials and was waiting for an answer.

    Assad denied the accusation and hinted meanwhile that he would be immune from questioning by the UN team.

    Syria has reportedly rejected the UN request to question Assad but agreed to let Shara be quizzed. There is still no official confirmation in Damascus.

    In a latest attack against the Syrian regime, Khaddam told Britain's Sky Television on Thursday that he believed Assad was directly responsible for Hariri's murder.

    Meanwhile, four Syrians, including former intelligence chief in Lebanon Lieutenant General Rustom Ghazali, were reportedly to bequestioned by the UN team in Vienna on Monday.

    Outgoing chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis submitted two interim reports in October and December, accusing Syrian and Lebanese officials of being involved in the killing of Hariri

    . 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