Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in reports on Monday that the UN tribunal probing the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri has "political goals."

"The international tribunal is not seeking to reveal the truth (about the murder) but to achieve political goals," Muallem was quoted as saying in local media.

"The international tribunal is a Lebanese matter and we will not deal with this court," he said at a meeting of Syria's Baath party late on Sunday.

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, said on July 22 that he knew the UN tribunal was set to indict members of his militant Shiite party for Hariri's assassination.

His comments raised fears of renewed conflict in Lebanon and prompted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah to make an unprecedented joint visit to Beirut on Friday in a bid to ease the tensions.

Hezbollah, whose main backers are Syria and Iran, is the most powerful military and political force in Lebanon and fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006.

Syria was widely believed to have been involved in Hariri's murder, forcing it to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after a 29-year presence. Damascus has consistently denied any part in the killing.

The United Nations set up the special tribunal to investigate Hariri's assassination in 2007.

The first reports by a committee of the tribunal, which is due to give its verdict by the end of this year, concluded there was evidence implicating Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services.

(Source: AFP)