Furious Syria attacks UN over Hariri probe

SYRIA has responded angrily to a UN resolution warning that it faced possible further action if it refuses to cooperate with the UN investigation into the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

An estimated 300 Syrians protested against the resolution near the US Embassy in Damascus yesterday.

"We are not criminals. We are not terrorists. We just need peace," declared a speaker on the podium in Al-Rawda square.

As patriotic songs blared from a loudspeaker, the crowd waved flags and pledged to support their beleaguered President Bashar Assad. The protest was organised by a group called the Syrian Committee for Public Relations.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa angrily rejected the Security Council resolution, saying that accusing Syrian security forces of having advance knowledge of Mr Hariri's killing was tantamount to saying US officials knew ahead of time about the September 11 attacks or that Britain knew about this summer's London transit bombings.

He also raised questions about why Britain had trained for similar scenarios soon before the London attacks.

"We know that such security organs, particularly the British, were fully aware that such attacks would take place and had prior training to face up to them," Mr al-Sharaa said, jabbing his finger toward British Foreign Minister Jack Straw as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other foreign ministers looked on.

Mr al-Sharaa's reaction visibly angered Mr Straw, who called it "absurd" and "the most grotesque and insensitive comparison."

Ms Rice called Mr al-Sharaa's outburst "a tirade which made the most bizarre connection." She said his intransigence showed Syria wanted to discredit the UN inquiry even after a Security Council vote strongly supported it.

The strongly-worded UN resolution, co-sponsored by the United States, Britain and France, warned that "further measures" were possible if Syria didn't cooperate with the UN inquiry headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis.

In an initial report to the Security Council, Mr Mehlis concluded Mr Hariri could not have been killed without the complicity of Syrian and Lebanese intelligence.

The Security Council gave new authority to Mr Mehlis, who returned on Monday to Lebanon amid tight security. The resolution requires Syria to detain anyone whom the UN investigators consider to be a suspect and allows them to determine the location and conditions under which the individual would be questioned.

Mr Mehlis is likely to seek to question Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother and brother-in-law, who were named in the report submitted October 28.