Syria receives request to interview Assad

DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Syrian officials have not responded to a U.N. commission's request to interview President Bashir Assad about the assassination of Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri.

The Foreign Ministry acknowledged receiving the request and a similar one for Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa, the Arab language news network Al Jazeera reported.

Hariri, a former prime minister of Lebanon, was killed by a massive car bomb early last year in Lebanon.

The United States Tuesday asked U.N. investigators to examine an allegation by former Syrian Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam that Assad had threatened Hariri a few months before his death.

The commission requested interviews with Assad and Sharaa last year and was rejected.