UN: The UN Security Council was yesterday considering ways to keep pressure on Syria to co-operate with the UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri after hearing that Damascus has burned documents and intimidated witnesses.
Several diplomats said the council was not ready to consider sanctions or call for the arrest of suspects from the Syrian president's inner circle after closely questioning the chief investigator, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis. Instead, it was considering two requests from the Lebanese government - to widen the probe into Hariri's death to include other killings and to create an international tribunal to try suspects in Hariri's death.
In a closed-door council session on Tuesday night, Mr Mehlis described interviews with five Syrian officials in Vienna last week. He said a sixth has not yet been interviewed. This is thought to be Asef Shawkat, the president's brother-in-law and head of military intelligence.
Mr Mehlis did not reveal the names of those interviewed or urge their detention, saying "it would not be helpful" at this point in the investigation. An early draft of his first report to the Security Council named some of President Bashar Assad's close aides as suspects.