Syria needs to comply with the demands of the UN probe into the murder of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, French President Jacques Chirac warned on Wednesday. âSyria must answer the demandsâ of the international inquiry into Hariri's killing, the president was quoted by a spokesman as saying during talks with his visiting Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak. Chirac, a personal friend of the murdered leader, stressed âFrance's determination that the United Nations commission be able to fully carry out its mission,â spokesman Jerome Bonnafont told reporters. Mubarak's visit to Paris followed a lightning trip to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, during which he discussed the Syrian crisis with King Abdullah, according to Egyptian diplomats.
The UN probe into Hariri's murder in February has already implicated Lebanese and Syrian officials, and UN officials have requested interviews with both President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa. Former Syrian vice president Abdel Halim Khaddam, who is now based in Paris, charged last week that Assad had threatened Hariri just a few months before the assassination. The French president earlier Wednesday described Syria's situation as âvery serious.â âEverything that destabilises Lebanon will end up turning back against Syria,â he warned, speaking on the sidelines of a new year's press conference.