The UN Security Council voted unanimously this afternoon in favor of a tough resolution demanding Syria cooperate with an investigation into the death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri or face possible punitive measures.
The resolution was adopted 15-0 after the principal drafters, the United States and France, agreed to delete a specific reference to economic sanctions. Instead the resolution would consider possible unspecified "further action" if Syria did not comply.
A dozen foreign ministers or their deputies from the 15 Security Council members traveled to New York for the meeting, underlying the importance of the vote.
The measure demands Syria cooperate "unconditionally" with a UN probe into the February 14th assassination in Hariri and orders Damascus to take into custody and make available to UN investigators people suspected of involvement in the killing.
It also calls for a financial freeze and travel ban on individual suspects to be named by a UN commission, headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, or the Lebanese government. But any Security Council member can object to a name on such a list.
The death of Hariri, an opponent of Syrian domination of his country, transformed Lebanon's political landscape. The killing led Syria to pull out its troops from Lebanon after three decades and has put increasing pressure on Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud to resign.