U.S. Ambassador The Syrian president wasn't mentioned in Mehlis' report to the Security Council last week, which implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials in Hariri's assassination and accused Syria of not cooperating fully with the investigation. But Mehlis told council members at a closed-door briefing Tuesday that Assad refused to be interviewed, Bolton's spokesman Richard Grenell said. The resolution introduced Tuesday by the United States, France and Britain would require Syria to detain any Syrian official or civilian the U.N. investigators might consider a suspect in Hariri's killing and allow the individual to be questioned outside the country or without Syrian officials present.
It would immediately freeze the assets and impose a travel ban on anyone the commission identified as a possible suspect in the assassination, and if Syria refuses to cooperate, the Security Council would consider "further measures," including economic sanctions. When Bolton was asked whether the detention provision would apply to Assad, he replied: "It absolutely includes the president of Syria. No person is above the law."