Move for curbs on Syria over murder

The United States and France are preparing new Security Council resolutions to accelerate the diplomatic isolation of Syria at the United Nations before the release of the report into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The report, which will be submitted to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today, is expected to accuse Syria of complicity in the bomb attack in Beirut that killed Hariri and 20 other people on February 14.

It is also expected to charge senior Lebanese and Syrian officials with murder.

In anticipation of the document, prepared by Detlev Mehlis, the UN's chief investigator into the affair, Syrian President Bashar Assad publicly denied guilt.

"We are 100 per cent innocent," he told the German newspaper Die Zeit.

Syria will become the main focus of Security Council debate next week as members get a first glimpse of the Mehlis report and a second UN report investigating whether Damascus has complied with a UN resolution of last year ordering it to withdraw from Lebanon and stop meddling in its affairs.

One of the resolutions is expected to consider how to hold Syria to account if it is charged in connection with the Hariri assassination.

A second would seek new UN sanctions on the country for allegedly funnelling weapons to Palestinians in Lebanon.

Relations between Syria and the US are already extremely fragile.

Washington accuses Damascus of arming Palestinians and supporting the insurgency in neighbouring Iraq.

Annan voiced deep concern this week that the release of the Mehlis report risks igniting those tensions.

- INDEPENDENT