The United States asked the UN Security Council yesterday to expand an investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al Hariri to include the killing of a prominent anti-Syria journalist. The White House stopped short of directly blaming Syria and its Lebanese security allies for the journalist's death, but said Damascus had created "an environment of political repression."Columnist Samir Kassir was killed when a bomb exploded in his car in Beirut on Thursday, four days after the start of Lebanon's staggered parliamentary elections. "We would like to see the United Nations Security Council expand its mandate for a United Nations-led investigation into the assassination of prime minister Hariri to include an investigation into the assassination of Mr Kassir," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in Crawford, Texas, where President George W. Bush was spending a long weekend. McClellan said Nicholas Burns, under-secretary of state for political affairs, intended to raise the issue with UN officials. "This heinous act was clearly an attempt to intimidate the Lebanese people and undermine their efforts to build a free and democratic future," McClellan said.