UNITED NATIONS – America, France, and Britain last night circulated among members of the Security Council a proposed resolution calling for sanctions against “individuals” implicated by a U.N. probe into the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. The draft demands that Syria give up some of its highest officials, presumably including President al-Assad’s brother, Maher, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat.

Mr. Shawkat, who has been implicated by the U.N. probe led by German investigator Detlev Mehlis, is one of the top decision makers in the hierarchy of the Syrian dictatorship, as is Maher al-Assad. It is assumed President al-Assad will find it all but impossible to obey the council. That, according to the resolution, would lead to tougher action against Syria.

President Bush yesterday did not exclude military action against Syria further down the road. In an interview with Al-Arabiya television, however, he said that such a strike “is the last, very last option.” He had “worked hard for diplomacy and will continue to work the diplomatic angle on this issue,” he said.

In a speech at Bolling Air Force Base, Mr. Bush challenged the Security Council to adopt the proposed resolution. “Syria is destabilizing Lebanon, permitting terrorists to use its territory to reach Iraq, and giving safe harbor to Palestinian terrorist groups,” he said. “The United Nations has passed strong resolutions against terror. Now the United Nations must act.”

The proposed resolution mentions no suspects by name. But its reference to “All individuals who have been designated or might be designated in the future by the Commission” headed by Mr. Mehlis as suspects, is assumed to be directed at the top Syrian officials.

The draft calls on Syria to “detain” such officials or individuals, and make them “fully and unconditionally available” to the commission. It also calls on member states to ban travel by such individuals and to freeze their financial assets and their access to “economic resources.” It also expresses an “intention to consider further measures” to impose compliance on Syria.

The names of five such individuals, including Messrs. Shawkat and Assad, were deleted in the final draft of the report that Mehlis officially presented yesterday to the council. Mr. Mehlis told reporters yesterday, however, that he was “not in a position to rule out” that the two Assad family members were top suspects. As an investigator, he never targets states, only “individuals,” he said. Asked whether Bashar Al-Assad could become a target for his probe, Mr. Mehlis noted that “The Syrian president, like any other official, is an individual.”

The French ambassador at the United Nations, Jean Marc de-la Sabliere, told reporters that all council members “want the truth and, this has been repeated by all members, the full truth. All those who are responsible for this crime must be held accountable and brought to justice.” A French diplomat who asked not to be named told The New York Sun that he expected “intense consultations” on the proposal. But he predicted it would pass by consensus or at least with a “large majority” in the 15-member body.

America is hoping to convene the foreign ministers of the countries represented at the council by Monday for a vote on the resolution. China’s Ambassador Wang Guangya, who expressed reservations about any resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, which allows enforceable measures like sanctions, yesterday seemed to soften his opposition. But it is Russia that is expected to mount the toughest opposition to Chapter 7 provisions proposed in the current draft.

Syria yesterday said it had cooperated fully with the Mehlis team, challenging Mr.Mehlis’s accusation that top officials, including Foreign Minister Farouk a-Shara, obstructed the probe. Syria’s U.N. ambassador, Fayssal Mekdad, poured scorn on the findings in the report. “Every paragraph deserves a comment to refute its content,” he told the council.

Mr. Mehlis said that his team of 30 investigators has received “a number of threats, which were deemed in the assessment of our security personnel to be credible,” he told the council, adding that the level of those threats “will increase further, particularly after the issuance of the report.”

Mr. Mehlis told reporters afterwards that threatening leaflets “from groups or from alleged groups” were distributed in southern Lebanon. He did not elaborate, but southern Lebanon is the stronghold of Syria-allied Hezbollah and of several Palestinian Arab camps where weapons are in abundance and where Syrian intelligence and its Lebanese allies have a lot of influence.

Asked byThe New York Sun if he was concerned about the threats, Secretary-General Annan said Mr. Mehlis “has been able to do his work and he is going to continue doing his work.”.

Charging Syria with responsibility just because it controlled Lebanon at the time of Hariri’s assasination, Mr. Mekdad said, is comparable to leveling accusations “against any security service in any country in the world on whose territory any crime takes place.” The September 11, 2001 terror attacks in America and similar events in Madrid and London happened “despite the fact that all those countries have very strong and highly effective intelligence and security authorities,” he contended.