Al-Assad calls Putin on Mehlis report

Syria on Tuesday stressed that the report of the international investigation team into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri "should not be used by some UN Security Council members for purposes that wouldn't serve the target for which the international committee was formed."

This was done during a telephone call made by President Bashar al-Assad to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during which talks dealt with Syria's stance toward the report of UN investigator Detlev Mehlis and the cooperation she offered to the committee. President Putin of Russia, for his part, underlined the importance that the international organization's work "be well- balanced without the rise of new tension points in the region," SANA reported.

Meantime, Deputy Speaker of the Russian Duma Council Valentine Koptsov voiced solidarity with Syria, asserting the rejection of any attempts to practice political manipulations regarding the report of the international investigation committee into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik al-Hariri.

"What is happing around Syria is only a new attempt by the U.S. and its allies to implement Washington's plots to control all the Middle East region," Koptsov said Tuesday in a statement to SANA.

Coptsov pointed out to Syria's firm pan-Arab and national stances which call for finding a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, supporting the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate rights and rejecting the occupation of Iraq.

"All these things don't satisfy the current American administration, so pressures are put on its leadership coupled with threats to impose sanctions on the country as well as accusing it of the assassination of Hariri," Koptov added.

Koptov underlined that Syria is interested more than any side in conducting an objective investigation into the assassination of Hariri.