The US on Thursday accused Syria of stonewalling a UN probe of the murder of Lebanon's former prime minister and condemned an "appalling" speech by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Assad, in a fiery hour-long speech to the nation in Damascus, lashed out at the Lebanese government and accused its prime minister of kowtowing to Western countries.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Syria was still failing to cooperate fully with the UN probe of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Speaking in Shannon, Ireland, en route to the Middle East, Rice criticized Syria for its response to the investigation conducted by German magistrate Detlev Mehlis for the UN.
"I don't think this constitutes cooperation," she said. "The [UN] resolution couldn't have been clearer and in fact more detailed about what was expected of the Syrians. They're expected to answer affirmatively, positively, yes, to whatever Mehlis needs to complete his investigation."
Rice was commenting on Syria's announcement on Wednesday that it had invited Mehlis to sign a cooperation accord on the probe into the Feb. 14 assassination of Hariri in a massive bomb blast in Beirut.
The UN Security Council adopted three resolutions concerning Syria, the most recent of them (Resolution 1636) calling for Damascus's complete cooperation with the Mehlis assassination probe.
Meanwhile, the US State Department slammed as "appalling" Assad's speech at Damascus University in which he defended his country's innocence in the Hariri case.
"We saw the speech. We think it's appalling," said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. "Assad's remarks today can only be seen as a defiance of those [UN] resolutions."
"Let's remember, first of all, that the international community has made it clear to Syria that it must first fully cooperate with the Mehlis investigation and, second, cease all interference in Lebanese domestic affairs," Ereli said.
In his speech, Assad declared: "I always said Syria is innocent. ... Syria is not implicated."
But he added: "Whatever we do or say to cooperate, the response is just going to be in a month that Syria is not cooperating. We have to be realistic. Syria is being targeted."
Assad vowed, however, that Damascus, despite its distrust of the process, would fully cooperate with the UN probe.
He lashed out at the Lebanese government which swept to power to replace their pro-Syrian predecessors in the aftermath of the murder, calling Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora a "slave of his masters."
"We asked Siniora to work to preserve good relations with Lebanon but some of those who are in power are hostile to Syria and accept that their country serves as a passage point for plots," Assad said.
Assad's speech prompted a walkout from a Lebanese Cabinet meeting of five Shiite ministers in protest of Siniora's insistence on discussing Assad's speech.
Separately, the US called for the unconditional release of a Syrian opposition figure as well as other critics of Assad's regime.
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