UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States, France and Britain circulated a draft Security Council resolution late Tuesday, calling on Syria to arrest any persons suspected of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

    The five-page draft says Syria "must detain those Syrian officials or individuals" whom a UN-authorized inquiry commission might consider as suspected of having been involved in the murder of Hariri, and make them available for interviews with the panel.

    The draft calls on Syria to allow the panel to interview other Syrian officials or individuals it deems relevant to the inquiry outside the country or outside the presence of any other Syrian officials.

    It also demand Syria stop interfering in Lebanese domestic affairs, refrain from any attempt aimed at destabilizing Lebanon, and commit to "cease all support for all forms of terrorist action."

    The draft does not contain an explicit threat of sanctions against Syria in case that it fails to meet the demands. But it says that the Security Council intends to consider further measures pursuant to Article 41 of the UN Charter to ensure Syria's compliance. Under Article 41, the council can resort to economicor diplomatic sanctions to ensure the implementation of its decisions.

    The draft was distributed hours after the council held closed consultations on the investigation of the Feb. 14 bombing attack in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, which killed 21 people, including Hariri.

    Before the meeting, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, the head of the inquiry commission, briefed the council on the team's findings after more than four months of probe into the attack.

    He accused Damascus of providing "limited" cooperation in the probe and called on the Syrian authorities to show "greater and meaningful" cooperation. His accusations have been vehemently rejected by the Syrian government. Enditem