Sponsored by Washington, Paris, and London, the resolution also orders Damascus to arrest and make available to UN investigators those suspected of involvement in the killing. These individuals include Gen. Assef Shawkat, the head of Syrian military intelligence and a brother-in-law of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

The resolution comes in the wake of increasing clashes between U.S. and Syrian troops along Syria’s border with Iraq. Washington accuses Damascus of doing too little to prevent armed groups linked with the former Baath Party regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq from using Syrian territory to enter Iraq and attack U.S. and Iraqi government forces.

Moscow, Beijing, and Algiers had objected to any direct threat of sanctions against Syria and threatened to abstain if they were included in the draft. The document was approved by a 15-0 vote after Washington and Paris agreed to drop specific references to economic sanctions. The resolution instead threatens unspecified further action if Damascus fails to comply.

Those sought by UN investigators as suspects in Hariri’s killing include the president’s brother, Maher al-Assad.

Hariri was killed along with 21 other people in a huge car bomb explosion on February 14. The murder sparked massive demonstrations in Lebanon against Syrian presence in the country, forcing Damascus to withdraw its troops, which were stationed in Lebanon for nearly three decades.

Just two days before approval of the Security Council resolution a Syrian general accused the U.S. military of conducting lethal military raids into Syrian territory. Maj. Gen. Amid Suleiman said cross-border attacks by U.S. troops in Iraq had killed at least two Syrian border guards and wounded several others.

The most serious clash occurred last summer when U.S. Army Rangers fought with Syrian troops along the border. In May, a U.S. helicopter, involved in operations against Baathists in Iraq, fired across the border, killing a border guard on the Syrian side of Baghouz. This village is split by a fence separating the two countries. The guard was one of at least four Syrians—two soldiers and two civilians—killed by U.S. troops this year. Syrian security services said six others have been wounded, according to the Canadian daily Globe and Mail.

Suleiman toured reporters in the border area to refute Washington’s claim that Damascus was not doing enough to secure the border. Suleiman said the Syrian military had increased the number of border posts from 547 to 557 since June and had arrested 1,400 individuals attempting to enter Iraq. Syrian officials also pointed to new barbed wire and reinforced sand barriers along the 400-mile border.
 
 
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