Green Light for Un Hariri Inquiry

The United Nations security council tonight voted to create a special tribunal into the 2005 assassination of the Lebanese prime minister, Rafiq Hariri.

The tribunal could begin hearing cases within the year. Two UN prosecutors have spent months gathering the evidence necessary to bring suspects to trial. It has not yet been agreed whether the tribunal will meet in Lebanon or outside.

Senior intelligence officers in the Syrian government, led by president Bashar Assad, are the main suspects.

After months of deadlock in both Lebanon and at the UN, the security council voted in favour of the resolution backing the tribunal. Ten voted for, with five - China, Russia, Qatar, South Africa and Indonesia - abstaining.

The US and France, along with the UK, have been leading the charge at the security council to create the tribunal.

The Syrian government tried various ploys to try to block it. The US even hinted last week that the fighting at the Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon had been instigated by Syria to try to delay the tribunal.

The struggling Lebanese prime minister, Fuad Siniora, two weeks ago asked the security council to establish the tribunal because opposition politicians were blocking the government from doing so.

The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said: "By adopting this resolution, the council has demonstrated its commitment to the principle that there should be no impunity for political assassination, in Lebanon or elsewhere."

Syria's ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, said: "Definitely this is something that goes against the interests of the Lebanese people, and Lebanon as a whole."

In Beirut, about 200 supporters of Mr Hariri took to the streets to celebrate.