U.N. Orders Syria To Cooperate

The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Monday demanding Syria's full cooperation with a U.N. investigation into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister and warning of possible "further action" if it doesn't.

The United States, France and Britain pressed for the resolution following last week's tough report by a U.N. investigating commission, which implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials in the Feb. 14 bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 20 others. The report also accused Syria of not cooperating fully with the probe.

The three co-sponsors agreed to drop a direct threat of sanctions against Syria to get support from Russia and China, which opposed sanctions while the investigation is still under way. Nonetheless, the resolution was adopted under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter which is militarily enforceable.

In another concession to try to get Russia and China on board, the co-sponsors also agreed to drop an appeal to Syria to renounce all support "for all forms of terrorist action and all assistance to terrorist groups."

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters that foreign ministers of the five permanent veto-wielding nations agreed to the changes because of "the prospect of getting a near unanimous vote in the council."

Despite the changes, he said, "it's going to be unmistakably a clear message" and "a strong resolution."

Meanwhile, Syria called for an emergency Arab League summit in a bid Monday to rally regional support in the face of stern U.N. Security Council action that would force greater cooperation from Damascus in the probe of the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister.

But Arab diplomats, already hedging against a lack of broad support for a summit of all 22 members, suggested a smaller gathering of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon and Egypt might be organized should others decline out of concern over harming ties to the U.N. resolution's prime sponsors.

The U.S. had urged foreign ministers of the 15 council nations to attend Monday's meeting to cast their country's vote on the resolution and thereby send a high-level message to Syria of the international demand for action. Almost all the ministers flew to New York for the meeting.

British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said that adoption of the resolution by the foreign ministers "is to show the intensity of the concern, and to make it very clear at the highest level what we expect."

The final negotiations on the text began Sunday night at a dinner hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for the foreign ministers of the four other permanent council nations — Russia's Sergey Lavrov, China's Li Zhaoxing, Britain's Jack Straw and France's Philippe Douste-Blazy. Lavrov and Li met separately for 45 minutes before the dinner, which lasted more than two hours.

The negotiations among the five countries resumed early Monday morning and then the entire 15-member council met behind closed doors.

Washington, Paris and London co-sponsored the resolution to follow up last week's report by a U.N. investigating commission, which implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials in the Feb. 14 bombing that killed Hariri and 20 others. The report also accused Syria of not cooperating fully with the probe.