The UN Security Council met October 25 to discuss this issue. According to press reports, Washington and Paris are preparing a resolution calling on Damascus to detain high-level Syrian government officials, who UN investigators allege were involved in the assassination, and make them “unconditionally available” to the UN commission until its investigation is completed in mid-December.

The commission, headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, concluded that “there is probable cause to believe that the decision to assassinate former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials.”

The accused reportedly include Maher Assad, the brother of Syrian president Basher Assad; Assef Shawkat, Assad’s brother-in-law; the head of Lebanese intelligence; a former head of Syrian intelligence; and other top figures in the Baathist regime in Damascus.

U.S. officials have made it clear that Washington intends to use the UN meeting to press to weaken, isolate, and destabilize the Assad regime.

“The United States makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor them,” U.S president George Bush said in a speech the same day the Security Council meeting opened. “Syria is destabilizing Lebanon, permitting terrorists to use its territory to reach Iraq, and giving safe harbor to Palestinian terrorist groups…. Now the United Nations must act, and Syria and its leaders must be held accountable for their continuing support for terrorism, including any involvement in the murder of Prime Minister Hariri.”

Damascus has lost substantial ground in Lebanon since the assassination, which sparked sustained protests there. In face of those mobilizations and pressure primarily from Paris and Washington, Syria withdrew the last of its troops from Lebanon in April, ending a 29-year military presence in the country.

Direct military pressure by Washington against Damascus is also increasing as U.S.-led forces in Iraq have extended their fighting at times into Syrian territory. In the most serious incident, said to have occurred last summer, several Syrian soldiers were killed by U.S. troops in the border area, the New York Times reported.

Washington accuses Damascus of providing safe haven to Baathist officials who were formerly part of the Saddam Hussein regime, and to their allies who are providing financial backing to armed groups carrying out attacks inside Iraq on U.S. and Iraqi government forces.  
 
 
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