First circulated Tuesday evening, the draft sponsored by Britain, France and the United States, calls for Syria to open its files and cooperate with the Independent Investigation Commission headed up by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis.

The report said there was converging evidence of involvement by both Syrian and Lebanese security officials in the Feb. 14 slaying.

While Syrian authorities, after initial hesitation, had cooperated to a limited degree with the commission, Mehlis said several interviewees tried to mislead the investigation by giving false or inaccurate statements and that a letter addressed from the foreign minister proved to contain false information.

Said the new draft: "Syria must detain those Syrian officials or individuals whom the commission might consider as suspected of having been involved in this terrorist act and make them fully and unconditionally available to the commission," the five-page draft read, adding the panel shall have the same rights in Syria as it has in Lebanon for its investigation.

"Syria must cooperate with the commission fully and unconditionally on that basis," the proposed measure said, adding investigators must be allowed "to interview Syrian officials or other individuals" outside of Syria or "outside the presence of any other Syrian official."

Asked Wednesday if that meant Syrian President Bashar Assad, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, said, "It absolutely includes the president of Syria. No person is above the law, and the president had time to talk to the media, to all of you ladies and gentlemen, and if he has time to do that, he has time to talk to Commissioner Mehlis."

Assad refused to talk with investigators but had a long exclusive interview last week on CNN.

Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad of Syria was asked about Bolton's remark.

"I don't want to comment but when it comes to leaders of states this is something that also should be considered and we think leaders should be dealt with respect," the Damascus envoy said, apparently meaning a head-of-state should not be interviewed

The draft resolution called on Syria to "renounce and commit itself definitely to cease all support for all forms of terrorist action and all assistance to terrorist groups and to demonstrate this undertaking through concrete actions."

The proposed resolution calls on all nations to forbid entry or travel through their territory any suspects, unless their own country, and to freeze "funds, financial assets and economic resources" owned or controlled directly or indirectly by suspects.

It also said that if, cooperation is not forthcoming as determined by the Mehlis commission, the council intends to "consider further measures," such as sanctions, against Syria.

Bolton told reporters, "I think if there's no Syrian cooperation, that it's entirely appropriate to look at further measures. I think that's part of sending a strong signal to Syria, that by Dec. 15, if not before, we want full and active cooperation."

The commission was extended to December after requests from Lebanon and Mehlis.

As for the draft resolution's future, Bolton, said, "The co-sponsors, the U.S. and France and Great Britain have been in consultations with other council members and other countries (Tuesday) evening and this (Wednesday) morning, and basically we are expecting that today, a lot of countries here will be able to get reactions from their capitals overnight, and it will get more definitive readings.

"But I must say, the early signs are encouraging," Washington's envoy told reporters. "It is a strong resolution. We feel it's important to send a strong and clear signal to the government of Syria, that its obstruction of the Mehlis Commission to date is unacceptable. And I think that's had a lot of resonance so far here in New York."

But when asked about Russia saying it would oppose any sanctions against Syria, Bolton said, "I think the reference in this context is to sanctions against the state of Syria, and of course, we don't, in our draft resolution, have those sanctions.

"We have sanctions against individuals that the Mehlis Commission has indicated are suspects, and I think that's something that's entirely reasonable to do, and as the Russian government has a chance to review the resolution, we're hoping we're going to get their support for it."

Mehlis told the council Tuesday his team had received threats and the already high risks it faced would increase further as it completes its work.

"The safety and security of the commission's members must be a priority," he told the 15-member body as it began studying the commission's report.

Asked about the threats at a news conference, Mehlis said flyers were distributed in south Lebanon threatening the commission and himself, and other more individual threats were received from groups, "but as far we were able to verify or to trace these threats they definitely do not come from any, let me say, official sites."

While the draft measure has three of the five permanent council members as sponsors, the remaining two are believed in opposition, Russia, as a long-time ally of Syria, and China, which opposes sanctions in principle.

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