A top British politician urged Syria Wednesday to "recognize Lebanon as a sovereign independent state and to set up diplomatic relations with it," stressing the necessity that it fully cooperate with the UN probe into former Premier Rafik Hariri's murder. British Foreign Secretary Jack straw was speaking during his two-day visit to Lebanon, the first by a British official since Syria was forced to withdraw its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon last April following the assassination of Hariri, for which Syria and its Lebanese allies were blamed. "I urge Syria to fully cooperate with the Security Council resolutions, in particular with the UN investigation into the assassination of Hariri," Straw told reporters following a meeting with Premier Fouad Siniora.Straw strongly denied any intentions, be they international or British, to change the regime in Syria. "We have no policy whatsoever of regime change in Syria and any change of government in Syria must be a matter of the Syria people."
"Again let me say, I urge Syria to do what it has done with so many countries around the world which is to exchange ambassadors, to recognize Lebanon as an independent sovereign neighbor of Damascus," he added. Commenting on the implementation of 1559, Straw said: "Resolution 1559 does not lay down a specific time frame, it is important that all groups like Hizbullah are disarmed." However Straw said: "What the international community wants to see is the government of Syria, whoever that is, meeting its international obligations especially those laid down in a series of Security Council resolutions as well as cooperating with the Hariri investigations."