Algeria on Friday denied reports that it is mediating between the Syrian administration and the opposition.

The official APS news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Amar Belani as "categorically" denying "the imaginary information" reported by a local Arabic language newspaper "about a possible mediation role being conducted by Algeria between disputing parties in Syria."

On Thursday, the local Echorouk newspaper reported that a delegation of five senior Syrian government and army officials arrived in Algeria on a private trip from Russia via Paris.

The paper said the aim of the visit was to persuade Algeria to play a mediation role between the Syrian government and the opposition, in a bid to end the raging war in Syria.

"No Syrian delegation visited Algeria and the idea of mediation exists only in the mind of the author of this false information," said Belani.