US, France threaten sanctions on Syria

UNITED NATIONS - The United States and France have circulated a Security Council draft resolution threatening economic sanctions if Syria fails to cooperate with a UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The draft says Syria must detain for questioning any official a UN investigation wants to interview in or outside the country. In invokes Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which makes council decisions mandatory for all UN members.

The sanctions threat invokes Article 41 of the UN Charter, which can include "complete or partial interruption of economic relations" and "severance of diplomatic relations."

German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who heads the investigation and released a report last Thursday, said the assassination of Hariri in Beirut on February 14 "was organised by Syrian and Lebanese security officials."

Hariri opposed Syrian domination in Lebanon.

Mehlis repeatedly said Syria had not cooperated, he was unable to talk to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and several officials interviewed gave false statements.

It was uncertain whether the resolution would suit Security Council members usually wary of sanctions, like Russia, China and Algeria, although US Ambassador John Bolton said all had been consulted. He said he did not expect sanctions to be considered until Mehlis again reports to the council, probably around December 15.

The resolution would also impose a travel ban and a freeze on overseas assets on those designated now or in the future by Mehlis' commission.

Bolton said this would include 10 people Lebanon has already charged with complicity. But the officials cited in Mehlis' report would not yet be subject to sanctions.

Written by the United States and France and backed by Britain, the text puts more pressure on Syria, already a Bush administration target for its alleged failure to keep foreign fighters from crossing its border with Iraq.

NOT RULING OUT MILITARY OPTIONS

Both US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have refused to rule out possible military action against Syria, but said Washington had not exhausted its diplomatic options.

Bush told Al Arabiya television in an interview aired on Tuesday, "It (military action) is the last - very last option." He said he had "worked hard for diplomacy and will continue to work the diplomatic angle on this issue."

No vote on the resolution is set, but the United States hopes for approval at a Security Council foreign ministers' meeting, tentatively set for Monday.

"It is important to show that the Security Council can follow through on its resolutions," Bolton said. "If the (Mehlis) commission is obstructed by the government or by individuals, the council has to come to the assistance of the commission ... and back it up."

The United States and France circulated the resolution hours after Mehlis briefed the Security Council on his report and held a news conference.

Mehlis also said his 30-member team from 17 countries had received a number of "credible" threats, which he expected would increase before his probe ended on December 15.

Syria's UN ambassador, Fayssal Mekdad, told the Security Council on Tuesday Damascus had cooperated and would continue to do so. He said blaming Hariri's death on Syrian and Lebanese security services was like accusing US security of responsibility for the September 11 attacks because they were in its territory.

"Every paragraph in this report deserves a comment to refute its contents," Mekdad said.

Mehlis also said Syria should conduct its own investigation. "We feel that under the present conditions it really doesn't make any sense to interview more Syrian officials to get the same standard answers," he said."

In Beirut, pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud vowed to stay in office until the last minute of his term, defying fresh calls to resign. The Mehlis report said he had received a phone call from a plotter minutes before Hariri was killed.

But Mehlis said Lahoud was not a suspect and "was just having a telephone conversation and this is not illegal."

- REUTERS