Visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday urged Syria to prevent arms smuggling from crossing its border into Lebanon and set up diplomatic ties with its neighbor, the local Naharnet news website reported.

"Syria must stop the smuggling of arms, establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon and demarcate the common border," the current EU president was quoted as saying at a joint news conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.

Merkel also called on Damascus to "cooperate fully" with the UN probe into the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former Premier Rafik Hariri for which Syria has been widely blamed, said the report.

There is "no excuse" to block the creation of the international tribunal which the UN Security Council has called for to try suspects in the Hariri murder, the chancellor added.

At the last leg of her Middle East tour, Merkel held separate talks with Seniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

She also visited one of the German ships taking part in the UN peacekeeping force which was reinforced after last year's devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Source: Xinhua