Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, in a joint statement issued here Friday urged the UN-appointed committee investigating the assassination of Lebanese former prime minister Rafiq Hariri to exercise the highest standards of professionalism and impartiality. The statement was issued at the end of Ahmadinejad's two-day official visit to Syria, according to a report of the Iranian news agency "IRNA". The two presidents, in the statement, condemned the attempts of certain countries to interfere in the probe of Hariri's assassination as an excuse to put further political pressure on Damascus. The two leaders also urged an end to the occupation of Arab territories in the Golan Heights, Palestine and Lebanon. The statement also stressed the need for restoring the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation as well as materializing their goals. "Tehran and Damascus condemn the repeated violations of Lebanese air space by Israeli air forces and praise the Lebanese people's heroic resistance against Israeli aggression," the statement added. --MORE 12 47 Local Time 09 47 GMT
