Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pledged his country's full co-operation with the United Nations (UN) probe into the murder of Lebanese ex-Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, saying in an interview it was in Syria's best interest to do so.

"We are showing complete co-operation. We are interested in the investigation because we are convinced we will be cleared that is unless the results are falsified for political reasons," Assad told German news weekly Der Spiegel in an interview published on Sunday.

Hariri was killed in a massive explosion in Beirut on February 14 and many in Lebanon pointed a finger of blame at Syria, which ended a 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April under international pressure in the turbulent aftermath of Hariri's death.

The Syrian president said his country had nothing to do with the murder and he was convinced the inquiry would clarify this.

It was not clear when the Der Spiegel interview was conducted or whether Assad was responding directly to criticism this week from Ibrahim Gambari, the UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, who told the UN Security Council on Thursday that Syria was not co-operating with the probe.

Source: China Daily