The head of a UN-authorized inquiry on Tuesday called on the Syrian government to cooperate fully in the investigation of the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Briefing the Security Council on the inquiry's findings, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis said the extension of the inquiry's mandate until Dec. 15 by Secretary-General Kofi Annan provides a new chance for Damascus to cooperate with the team.

"The commission is of the view that this would provide yet another opportunity for the Syrian authorities to show greater and meaningful cooperation, and to provide any relevant substantial evidence on the assassination," Mehlis said.

He hoped that the Syrian authorities would carry out their own investigation into the murder of Hariri to enable the UN investigative panel to "fill in the gaps".

Mehlis presented a report to Annan last Thursday, which links Syria with the Feb. 14 bombing attack in Beirut. The attack killed 21 people, including Hariri. Mehlis' report also noted that Damascus only provided "limited" cooperation in the probe.

During Tuesday's briefing, Mehlis also expressed concern about increasing security risks his team is faced.

"It should be noted that despite all the precautionary measures, the level risk which was already high will increase further, particularly after the issuance of the report," he added, while noting the major role Lebanese security forces had so far played in addition to the commission's own security team.

"I would also like to add that the commission has received a number of threats which were deemed, in the assessment of our security personnel, to be credible," he said.

Hariri's death led to renewed calls for the withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence agents who had been in Lebanon since the early stages of the country's 1975-1990 civil war. Syrian withdrew its military forces in April.

After Mehlis' speech, Syrian Ambassador to the UN Fayssal Mekdad took the floor, refuting Mehlis' accusation against Syria.

Mekdad said the accusation that Syria had not cooperated with the investigative team was "a great injustice" to Syria. Syria had cooperated "fully" and "sincerely" with the commission and would continue to do so in the future, he added.

Source: Xinhua