WASHINGTON, 1 November 2005 — The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday demanding Syria’s full cooperation with a UN investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri, Lebanon’s former prime minister, and warning of possible “further action” if it does not.

The resolution demands that Syria fully assist German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis’ investigation into Hariri’s murder on Feb. 14 in Beirut by detaining for questioning at a location of his choosing anyone named by the UN as a suspect in the crime.

Under the terms of a resolution, Syria would be required to turn over suspects to international justice or face the possible use of force.

The measure also imposes a travel ban and asset freeze on any individual designated by a committee of the Security Council as a suspect in the case.

Mehlis said in an Oct. 20 report on Hariri’s assassination that Syria cooperated “in form, not substance” and “made it difficult to follow leads established by the evidence.”

Mehlis named two of President Bashar Assad’s immediate family, Assef Shawkat, his brother-in-law and head of military intelligence, and Mahar Assad, his younger brother and head of the Republican Guards, as having planned Hariri’s assassination with five other Syrian officials, according to a leaked version of the report.

Both names were deleted from his final report to Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, but they will be pursued if there is any prosecution. Also identified in the inquiry was Rustom Ghazali, the head of Syria’s security services in Lebanon at the time of Hariri’s killing.

Diplomats cited tape recordings of Syrian and Lebanese officials discussing the car bomb attack that killed Hariri as to what cinched the resolution.

The United States, France and Britain dropped the direct threat of sanctions against Syria in a last-minute effort to get all 15 Security Council members to back the resolution. Russia and China, two of the five permanent members, opposed sanctions while the investigation is still under way.

The troika had pressed for the resolution following last week’s strongly worded report by the UN 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 fully cooperating with the inquiry.

The resolution is a minor diplomatic victory for Washington, as it increases pressure on Bashar’s government on several fronts, including tighter border control with Iraq to prevent insurgents from entering the country, according to Stephen Cook, a Middle East analyst for the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “It increases Syria’s diplomatic and economic isolation,” Cook told reporters. “It shows that the whole world has changed except for the Assad regime, which is a major problem for them.”

Cook said that while Bashar would probably take some steps to relieve the pressure, such as granting citizenship for ethnic Kurds in northern Syria and tightening control of the border with Iraq, the government would not make the type of fundamental move toward democracy the US seeks.

Syria has called for an emergency Arab League summit in a bid to rally regional support in the face of the UN resolution. But Arab diplomats suggested a smaller gathering of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon and Egypt might be organized.

Speaking at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, the diplomats said Secretary-General Amr Moussa had sent a special envoy to Gulf countries informing them of the Syrian request. The diplomats said Syria hoped for the meeting after Eid Al-Fitr.