UNITED NATIONS, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States and other Western countries should stop meddling in the internal affairs of Syria and Lebanon, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad said on Tuesday.

    The remarks came as France has worked out a draft resolution in the UN Security Council urging Syria to respond to Lebanon's call to establish formal diplomatic ties and demarcate their common border.

    "I think what they have to do is to have Syria and Lebanon solve their own problems. They have nothing to do with Lebanon," Mekdad told reporters.

    U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy were to meet at the UN late Tuesday to discuss the Syria-Lebanon issue.

    "Lebanon is a sovereign, independent country. It should be guided by the results of (its) national dialogue and (has) no need whatsoever for Rice or Douste-Blazy to interfere with the internal affairs of Lebanon and the affairs between Syria and Lebanon," Mekdad said.

    UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently presented a report on Syrian-Lebanese ties, in which he also called for the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between the two countries as well as on the demarcation of their common border to uphold Lebanon's sovereignty and independence.

    Syria criticized the report, saying that it overstepped the mandate of a UN Security Council resolution on the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, according to a letter released here Monday.

    In line with Security Council Resolution 1559 passed the previous year, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in 2005 after 29 years of military and political domination of the small country.

    Syria also warned against adopting new resolutions that would enhance instability in the region. Enditem