US President George W. Bush on Friday called for a United Nations meeting as soon as possible to discuss a UN report implicating Syrian officials in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The UN report is "deeply disturbing" and it "strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement,'' Bush said in remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.

The UN report, released on Thursday evening, linked Syria with the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and called on the Syrian authorities to cooperate with investigators.

"There is converging evidence pointing at both Lebanese and Syrian involvement in this terrorist act," said the report, referring to the Feb. 14 deadly bomb attack in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, which killed Hariri and 20 others.

Syria has denied it has any links to the killing of Hariri.

Source: Xinhua