The official Syrian news agency said on Saturday "there is no truth to news reports of Syria's acceptance of European border guards to monitor the border with Lebanon."

They said Syria did not accept the deployment of European guards on the Lebanese side of the two countries' border to help prevent arms shipments to Hezbollah.

They did not say whether the force it was referring to was armed or not.

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The denial came hours after Italian Premier Romano Prodi said that Syria's President Bashar Assad had agreed "in principle" to a European Union presence on its border to help stem the flow of weapons into Lebanon.

Assad said last month that he would consider the deployment of international troops along the Lebanon-Syria border to be a hostile move toward his country.

Prodi said in a statement that he had spoken with Assad several times over the last few days.

"I reminded President Assad that the European Union has significant experience in training programs for frontier guards, and that the idea of an EU mission of assistance on the border between Syria and Lebanon would be an excellent signal of cooperation between Syria and Europe," the statement said.

"President Assad gave me his accord in principle," it added.

In comments to the Syrian news agency, confirmed by Prodi's office, the premier said the European guards would not be armed and would not be in uniform, but would have all the "necessary instruments to check on the passage of arms toward southern Lebanon."

Later Saturday, Prodi's spokesman, Silvio Sircana, said Syria's denial of claims Assad agreed to the European presence was accurate, adding that Prodi had not said "border guards" would be deployed and that the Syrian news agency and the premier's office were mistaken.

"I confirm that Prodi and Assad did not discuss troops or guards, but only EU personnel without uniforms or arms that will be at the disposal of the Syrian forces," Sircana said.

Earlier, Prodi said in his statement that "we believe that a significant quantity of arms pass through this border ... toward southern Lebanon."

The Italian premier also said Assad had told him Syria would increase security at the border by sending 500 border guards.

The United States is also encouraging Germany to deploy troops at the border of Syria and Lebanon. An agreement has not been reached, however, as Germany is seeking the Lebanese government's position on the matter.

On Friday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Syria had promised to deploy a battalion to help patrol its border with Lebanon to stop illegal arms shipments to Hezbollah militants.

Annan, during a trip to Damascus, said on September 1 that Assad pledged to respect an embargo on weapons going into Lebanon and to help secure the frontier.

Elaborating on that pledge, Annan told reporters he had received a telephone call from the Syrian president earlier this week promising "to deploy one battalion to the border to help control the border."

A battalion is usually composed of 600 to 800 soldiers.

Annan said Assad also had accepted international offers of assistance for equipment, training of Syrian personnel and "international expertise."

The secretary-general said he had asked Germany to provide "that expertise" along with what it is providing to the Lebanese government.

"It's an attempt to tighten control on both sides of the border," Annan said.

Syria and Iran are widely believed to ship arms and money to the Lebanese-based militia Hezbollah.

Annan visited Syria during a Middle East swing through in an effort to implement an August 11 UN Security Council resolution halting the war between Israel and Hezbollah and barring arms shipments to Hezbollah.

Since the war's end, Israel has been seeking the deployment of foreign peacekeepers along the Syrian-Lebanese border, but Damascus has consistently refused.