WASHINGTON, Oct 12: US President George W. Bush warned Syria on Wednesday to keep out of internal Lebanese affairs and to close off its common border with Iraq to suspected terrorists streaming in to fuel the deadly resistance there.

“We expect Syria to do everything in her power to shut down the transhipment of suiciders and killers into Iraq. We expect Syria to be a good neighbour to Iraq,” he said as he met the outgoing Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

Bush, citing a pending UN report on former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri’s assassination, reserved judgment on Syria’s announcement that its former strongman in Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, had committed suicide after being questioned last month about the February slaying.

“I don’t want to prejudge the report that’s coming out,” he said. “I think it’s very important for Syria to understand that the free world respects Lebanese democracy and expects Syria to honour that democracy.”

“It’s one thing to have been asked to remove troops and all intelligence services (from Lebanon), now the world expects Syria to honour the democracy in the country of Lebanon,” said the US president.—AFP