Former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss on Friday voiced great regret over some Lebanese to exploit the assassination of ex-prime Minister Rafic Hariri to serve flagrant political purposes. In a statement issued on Friday, al-Hoss said "The assassination mustn't be invested to deepen the national division which Hariri was avoiding to enter in till the last moment of his life because he was aware of the dangerous results of what is going on for the destiny of the national unity in Lebanon."

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanon's embattled pro-Syrian government said that it was unlikely to cooperate with a newly appointed UN commission of inquiry into the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri and hit out at France over opposition calls for an "uprising". The announcement threatened to put Lebanon on a collision course with both the former colonial power and the United States, which is demanding an independent investigation into the bombing, in which 14 other people also died. Asked if his government would work with the UN team to be headed by senior Irish police officer Deputy Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad said: "I do not think so.

BEIRUT (AFP) - The top US envoy to the Middle East called for the "complete and immediate" withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and demanded an investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. "Mr Hariri's death should give renewed impetus to achieving a free, independent and sovereign Lebanon," Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns told reporters. "What that means is the immediate and complete implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, and what that means is the complete and immediate withdrawal by Syria," he said after talks with Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud.

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon - Screaming and weeping mourners clambered around the flag-draped coffin carrying the body of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri as hundreds of thousands of people turned out for his burial Wednesday, two days after a huge bomb killed the man credited with rebuilding post-civil war Lebanon.  Suspicions over Syrian involvement in Hariri's assassination further charged the atmosphere, with his family and supporters warning officials of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government to stay away. Internationally, pressure mounted to find his killers, with Washington recalling its ambassador and the U.N. Security Council demanding Lebanon catch bring those responsible for Hariri's slaying. More than 200,000 people crowded into central Beirut square around the towering Mohammed al-Amin Mosque, which Hariri built. It is also where the billionaire businessman who was Lebanon's prime minister for 10 of the 14 years following the end of the 1975-90 civil was is to be buried.