Syria has rejected a UN investigation into the murder of a former Lebanese premier, calling it politically biased.

"It is a political statement against Syria based on allegations by witnesses known for their hostility to Syria," Mehdi Dakhlallah, Syria's information minister, told Aljazeera in the first official reaction from Damascus to the report.

Dakhlallah described the report as "100% politically biased" and said it was far from the truth.

The UN report implicated Syrian security services in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

Led by veteran German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, the probe into the 14 February assassination cited "converging evidence" of Syrian and Lebanese involvement and accused Damascus of blocking and misleading the investigation.

"There is probable cause to believe that the decision to assassinate ... could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials and could not have been further organised without the collusion of their counterparts in the Lebanese security services," the report said.

Syria, which pulled out its troops from Lebanon in April amid an international outcry over the al-Hariri killing, is bracing for possible international sanctions over the report.

Lebanon denial

Lebanon also criticised the report, with President Emile Lahoud denying he had any contact with a suspect named by the UN report, the presidential office said on Friday.

"The press office in the presidential palace categorically denies this information, which has no basis in truth and is a part of pressure campaigns against the president," it said in a statement.

UN investigators reported on Thursday that a suspect had called Lahoud minutes before a truck bomb killed al-Hariri and 20 other people in Beirut in February.

Palestinian denials

A pro-Syrian Palestinian leader also rejected on Friday accusations his group played a role in the killing of al-Hariri.

"We completely reject the implication of any of our factions in this case," said Ahmed Jibril, head of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).

"We say we were surprised with the ... report, which tried to implicate some of our factions by saying they gave some support to Lebanese security leaders," he told Al-Arabiya television.

Mehlis' report said people from Jibril's group in Lebanon coordinated with Lebanese and Syrian security officials in their preparations for the truck bombing that killed al-Hariri and 20 others in Beirut.

"The Front is allied with Syria because Syria supports the Palestinian people and their cause," he said. "We are ready today to present to the investigative committee and Lebanese judiciary whoever it calls."

PHOTO CAPTION

U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis, left, holds a copy of the report on the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri as he arrives for a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, right, in Annan's office at the United Nations headquarters, Thursday Oct. 20, 2005. (AP)