Wednesday, February 16 2005 12:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Concerned over the "heinous" assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the US yesterday (Feb 15, 2005) recalled its ambassador to Syria for "consultations", the State Department said.

Apparently holding Damascus responsible for Monday's (Feb 14, 2005) incident, spokesman Richard Boucher said that the Ambassador Margaret Scobey has delivered a stern message to the Syrian administration.

"Following the murder of former Prime Minister Hariri, Ambassador Scobey delivered a message to the Syrian Government expressing our deep concern as well as our profound outrage over this heinous act of terrorism," he said.

Syria maintains a sizeable presence of military and intelligence officials in Lebanon, in contravention of UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1559, he said.

"Monday's bombing calls into question the stated reason behind this presence of Syrian security forces: Lebanon's internal security," he said.

Boucher said, in recent months, US repeatedly raised with Damascus a number of issues, including Syrian presence in Lebanon, the activities of Iranian regime and Iraqi insurgents in Syrian territory.

"To date, these concerns have not been adequately addressed. We again call upon the Syrian Government to take positive action on all these matters," he said.

Scobey will be returning "imminently" to Washington for consultations, Boucher said.