DAMASCUS, Jan. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Syria criticized on Thursday the U.S. move to freeze the assets of its military intelligence chief Assef Shawkat as biased to protect Israeli interests.

    The United States on Wednesday blocked the U.S. assets of Shawkat, also a brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad, accusing him of supporting terrorism against Israel and backing Syria's interference into Lebanon.

    "This shows the bias of the current U.S. administration in protecting Israel's aggressive policies ... and denial of the Palestinian legitimate right to resist Israeli terrorism," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua.

    "The policies supported by the US administration do not serve security and stability in our region. But they would increase their rejection by the Arab people," it said.

    Shawkat was allegedly involved in the assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafik Hariri in a massive truck bombing last February and his name appeared in the first report by former chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis as a suspect.

    Damascus has consistently denied any role in the murder and President Assad has asserted several times that any Syrian confirmed in the crime would be treated as a traitor. Enditem