Rogue Syrians Must Be Held to Account, Says Us

George Bush called last night for the UN security council to take up urgently the question of Syrian involvement in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, saying the international community had to hold Damascus accountable.

Mr Bush asked Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, to call the meeting of council foreign ministers, after a UN report implicated senior Syrian officials in the February 14 murder in Beirut. "There must be some way to assure accountability," said Ms Rice, adding that the international community would have "no real credibility" if it failed to take punitive action.

Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, travelling with Ms Rice in Alabama said the meeting "should take place as soon as possible".

"You cannot leave a report like this ... on the table," he said. "Otherwise the international community whole influence and effectiveness is in question. If we act swiftly, we act resolutely, we act together, we can show that the international community is standing up for justice."

Syria responded angrily to the report, which concluded that the bomb that killed Hariri "could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security official(s)".

"I think the report is far from professional and will not lead us to the truth," Syria's information minister, Mehdi Dakhlallah, told al-Jazeera television. Syria's ambassador to the US, Imad Moustapha, said the accusations "will only help fuel anti-American sentiment around the world".

The report attracted controversy yesterday meanwhile as it emerged that the names of several top Syrians were deleted shortly before publication. An earlier draft containing the names - which had apparently been circulated by mistake - appeared on the Washington Post's website with the changes highlighted in blue. At a hastily called press conference in New York, the chief investigator, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, insisted he had not come under pressure to delete the names. The people concerned had been mentioned by a witness, but their involvement was not corroborated.

The report cited one unnamed witness as saying that General Assef Shawkat, brother-in-law of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, set up a young Lebanese man, Ahmed Abu Adass, as a decoy to claim responsibility for the suicide bombing that killed Mr Hariri. Gen Shawkat, who is Syria's military intelligence chief, allegedly forced Mr Adass to confess to the killing on a videotape two weeks before the assassination took place.

It also said the Syrian foreign minister, Farouq al-Sharaa, gave false information in a letter to investigators, and said the regime had cooperated only "in form, not substance". This implies Syria is in breach of the UN resolution that set up the investigation and could form the basis for tough security council action.

The security council is due to discuss its next moves on Tuesday. Economic sanctions would be one option, but opinions may be more divided when it comes to meting out justice. Both Ms Rice and Mr Straw said it would be ideal for a tribunal to be established in Lebanon, but both acknowledged that might be difficult. However, there is a potential rift between US, which is opposed to the international criminal court and other security council members.

"Everyone knows the United States' view of the international criminal court," said Ms Rice. "That view is not going to change."