A DIPLOMATIC clash over Syria is looming at the UN as new charges emerged yesterday about possible Syrian meddling in Lebanon.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and other foreign ministers from the 15 Security Council members plan to travel to New York on Monday to urge Syria to co-operate with the UN inquiry into the Valentine’s Day murder of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, or face sanctions.

But Russia, a veto-holding permanent member of the council, pledged to protect its traditional ally. The Arab League and even Saad Hariri, the murdered politician’s son, are also opposed to sanctions.

A new UN report published yesterday raised the stakes by charging that arms and personnel were still pouring in from from Syria to Palestinian groups in Lebanon. The report by Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN envoy responsible for monitoring Syria’s UN-mandated troop withdrawal from Lebanon, said: “A variety of recent reports has suggested that there has been an increasing influx of weaponry and personnel from Syria to some of these groups.”

Anticipating the new UN report, the Lebanese Government dispatched elite troops and tanks to the Syrian border. Last night they surrounded the base of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a pro-Syrian group led by Ahmed Jibril. Mr Jibril, whose main office is in Damascus, was named by UN investigators as a possible suspect in the plot to blow up Mr Hariri. He has dismissed the report by Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor, as “baseless and a big lie”.

Britain, France and the US are seeking Security Council action after Herr Mehlis’s UN inquiry which concluded that Syrian officials were involved in Mr Hariri’s murder.

The three powers have circulated a draft resolution demanding that Syria detain any Syrian suspects in the assassination and make them available to UN investigators, The resolution would also impose an asset freeze and travel ban on any suspects named by Herr Mehlis’s team.

Such a move could threaten the inner circle of President Assad of Syria. One witness cited by Herr Mehlis has charged that President Assad’s brother, Maher, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, were involved in the assassination of their Lebanese enemy.

Lebanon yesterday charged two brothers named by Herr Mehlis with Mr Hariri’s murder. The move against Ahmad Abdel-Al, a member of a pro-Syrian Islamic group, and his brother, Mahmoud Abdel-Al, brings to 11 the number of people charged in Lebanon in connection with the assassination.

It was not clear last night whether the Lebanese forces surrounding Mr Jibril’s base were preparing to storm it. Loudspeakers called for all those inside to leave the base peacefully.

Times Recommends

• Would you live on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall?
• Wish you were here, says Iraq tourist board
• Russian policeman’s corruption plea to Putin