DAMASCUS - Syria has fully cooperated with a UN probe into the murder of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, a high-ranking Syrian official said Saturday, three days before an enquiry into the killing is presented to the UN.

Deputy Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said that there is "no reason for the Security Council to take measures against Syria", despite an interim report implicating Syrian officials in Hariri's killing in a February bomb blast.

"Syria has fully cooperated with the international commission of enquiry ... to cut the road to those who would try to use this enquiry to political ends against Syria and the region," Muallem told journalists outside Damascus.

"Nothing could justify Security Council measures against Syria," he said, adding that "Syria is innocent of this crime."

The interim report criticised Damascus for failing to cooperate fully with the probe, leading to a unanimous Security Council resolution in October calling on Syria to completely cooperate or face further action.

Probe chief Detlev Mehlis, whose mandate expires on December 15, is due to present his report to the UN on Tuesday. Lebanon has asked for a six-month extension to the probe's mandate, which the UN is due to consider.

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