The United Nations denied press reports about a "setback" in the UN investigations in the killing of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri.
"It is not true," UN sources told Gulf News over the telephone from Beirut.
The press reports said one of the witnesses in Hariri assassination case is a "liar".
The sources said it "won't comment further on these reports which is not related in anyway to reality."
The UN sources "warned of such misleading reports," describing them as "speculation".
Several Arabic-language newspapers in Beirut and Damascus have published articles saying that the Lebanese Foreign Ministry has received "important" reports about the "lying of a bribed Syrian witness" in the Hariri murder case.
The UAE's Al Itihad newspaper published a similar report yesterday.
The testimony of the witness, Zuhair Al Sadeeq, is "not true after he backed off", Al Itihad's report said.
"It was proved that the four suspected Lebanese security officials had not met Syrian officers and that Sadeeq was never a Syrian intelligence officer," the report said.
Four top Lebanese security officials in Lebanon had been arrested in connection with assassination of Hariri.
According to the press reports, the UN suffered "a shock" as a result of these developments, and the Secretary-General Kofi Annan decided to send his special envoy Terje Roed-Larson to the region to save the situation.
"There is no such thing," said a UN source when asked on the reason of Larson's upcoming visit to the region.
The UN team headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis is schedule to submit its findings to the UN security Council by October 25.
While many Lebanese believe Syria played a role in the assassination, Damascus categorically denied the allegations. Mehlis visited Damascus twice and questioned security officials.
On the another hand, some reports said recently that Washington and Damascus are engaged in secret talks to try to solve the predicament Syria might face because of Mehlis' report, in case he points accusing fingers at the Syrian leadership.
However, political analysts in Damascus denied that there are secret talks on a "high level".
"According to my information, the US administration is not yet engaged in direct talks with the Syrians because it considers non-official talks more fruitful," said Emad Fawzi Shueibi, President of the Damascus-based Data and Strategic studies centre.
Washington, he told Gulf News, "believes the absence of a direct dialogue is a kind of diplomacy. This is what some of the American officials who visited Damascus recently told me."
However, Shueibi made it clear that the ongoing dialogue is "through the American Embassy in Damascus, and this is normal because of the presence of the embassy ... but there is no high-level dialogue.
"It is a discussion aimed at bridging the gap in views," he said, adding that the topics under discussion include issues such as situation in Iraq and Palestinian groups' presence in Damascus.
"The dialogue channels are open, so why it should be secret. I believe this is media exaggeration and one of the media war launched against Syria."
While many Lebanese believe Syria played a role in the assassination, Damascus categorically denied the allegations.
