WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush urged Syria Wednesday to step up controls of its border with Iraq to stop insurgents from entering the strife-torn country.

Bush also called on Damascus to stop meddling in neighboring Lebanon, to cooperate with a UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, and to stop letting "terrorist" groups meet in Syria.

"Our message to (Syrian President) Bashar Assad is that we expect -- if they want to be a welcomed country into the world, that they have got to free Lebanon, shut down cross-border infiltration, and stop allowing Hezbollah, PIJ (Palestine Islamic Jihad) and other terrorist groups to meet inside the country," Bush told the Freedom House, an independent pro-democracy group.

The United States has frequently accused Syria of failing to stem the flow of foreign fighters across its border with Iraq.

Damascus's failure to stop insurgents from going into Iraq has "required us to adjust our tactics on the ground," Bush said.

"And we've spent a lot of time training people to stop the cross-border infiltration because there's some doubt as to whether or not we're getting much cooperation on the other side of the border," he said.

The United States led calls last year for Syria to also end its three-decade-old military presence in Lebanon. Although the troops were pulled out last April, Bush questioned whether Syria had taken out its intelligence officers.

"We spent a lot of time working with particularly France in making it abundantly clear we expect the Syrians to allow the Lebanese democracy to evolve," Bush said.

"I guess it's kind of hard to give up on a country in which you've had a stranglehold," he added.

"There was a troop withdrawal, as you know. My main concern is to whether or not they withdraw more than just troops; whether they withdraw intelligence services and people that were in a position to influence the future of the country," he said.

He added meanwhile that it was "very important that there be full cooperation in the (UN) investigation of the death of Mr Hariri."

Syria is suspected of involvement in the February 14, 2005 bomb blast in the Lebanese capital which killed Hariri, a billionaire businessman who was prime minister in 1992-98 and 2000-04, and 22 other people.

Syria has denied any involvement in the assassination.

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