UNSC split on how to handle Syria

Algeria, China and Russia believe it is premature to consider punishing Damascus before chief investigator Detlev Mehlis concludes his probe on December 15, officials from the US, UN and Europe told the daily.

Mehlis, who led the four-month UN probe into the murder, was to outline on Wednesday the findings of the damning report he released last Thursday, which named senior Syrian security officials as suspects in the massive bomb blast that killed Hariri and 20 others in Beirut last February.