"Syria must respect U.N. Resolution 1680 and accept the demands of the international community for the security and independence of Lebanon," Chirac said Friday during a joint press conference in Paris with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Chirac also stressed that "Syria's behavior is not always what we would wish for" in its relations with the international community adding that Paris and London "share the same feeling with regards to the situation in Lebanon."

France, Britain and the United States drafted the resolution that was passed by the Security Council on May 17 with an overwhelming majority.

Damascus rejected the resolution calling it unprecedented international interference in the bilateral relations of two countries.

Blair fully supports Hariri ‘s assassination probe

In a related development, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that his government fully supported the UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanon’s PM Rafik Hariri and dismissed allegations that Mossad and the CIA plotted the murder.

In a question-and-answer session Thursday during his monthly news conference at 10 Downing Street, Blair said that accusing the CIA and Mossad of the assassination of Hariri fell into "the usual conspiracy theories that do nothing but add nonsense to any discussion."

German author Jurgen Kobol held the CIA and the Mossad responsible for Hariri's killing in a recently published book.

"It is important that those who were responsible for that assassination are brought to justice," Blair said of the next UN report related to the killing.

The head of the International Investigation Commission probing Hariri's murder, Serge Brammertz, is expected to submit his second report to the UN Security Council today.

Sources: Naharnet, Ya Libnan