"The commission will also seek to interview Abdel-Halim Khaddam as soon as possible," a U.N. spokesperson said, referring to the former Syrian Vice-President, who alleged in a recent television interview that Assad repeatedly threatened Hariri just months before a bombing killed former Lebanon's Prime Minister and 22 others on Feb. 14, 2005.

"The U.N. commission has already sent a request to interview Syrian President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa, among others," the spokesperson told Associated Press.

"The commission is waiting for a response from the Syrians," the spokesperson added. She refused to say when the request to interview Assad was made.

An-Nahar reported that the commission would request to meet Khaddam after noticing that his comments regarding the circumstances surrounding Hariri's murder were consistent with testimonies by anti-Syrian officials documented in the UN report submitted by chief investigator Detlev Mehlis last month.

"I will destroy anyone who tries to hinder our decisions," Khaddam, who now lives in Paris, quoted Assad as telling Hariri during a meeting in Damascus.

"We must await the results of the investigation, but no Syrian security service could take such a decision unilaterally," added Khaddam, long-time architect of Syria's political and military domination of Lebanon.

His comments came in an interview with the Dubai-based Al Arabiya that was aired on Friday.

Ya Libnan has also recommended in its Dec. 31 editorial that the UN should again interview president Lahoud, who accused Khaddam of "distorting facts" and trying to build "a link between claims that the president has fomented hostility towards Hariri and the murder" of the former premier.

Khaddam said in the interview that Lahoud carried out a vicious campaign against the former premier to discredit him before Syria, which was dominating Lebanon politically and militarily.

MP Saad Hariri lashed out at Lahoud, saying the former premier (his dad) had provided an international cover for the resistance in Lebanon. He accused the president of joining Syrian officials in their attempts to undermine Khaddam "just because he gave a historical testimony for the sake of Lebanon and the truth."

Sources: Ya Libnan, An Nahar,Agencies