Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Seven senior Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad's brother and brother-in-law, are suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, United Nations investigators said in a report likely to increase tensions between the U.S. and Syria.

Hariri, a five-time prime minister of Lebanon, was killed by a bomb Feb. 14.

``Many leads point directly towards Syrian security officials as being directly involved,'' said the 54-page report prepared by a team led by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis.

He said Assad's brother, Maher, and brother-in-law Assef Shawkat plotted the assassination, along with five other Syrian officials named in the report. It doesn't directly implicate Bashar-al-Assad. There was also evidence of Lebanese involvement in the assassination, according to the report.

Syria, which ended a 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April, has denied involvement. John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, said in a speech Oct. 14 that those shown to be involved in the assassination ``should be dealt with very seriously.''

Lebanese General Prosecutor, Said Mirza, announced the indictment on Sept. 1 of one current and three former Lebanese security officials in connection to his death.

Mehlis said the assassination had to have been ``carried out by a group with an extensive organization and considerable resources.'' He said Syrian officials cooperated with the investigation ``in form, not substance'' and ``made it difficult to follows leads established by the evidence.''

Citing Evidence

The report cited evidence of a series of contacts between Lebanese and Syrian intelligence officials prior to the attack.

An unidentified Syrian living in Lebanon ``who claims to have worked for the Syrian intelligence services in Lebanon, has stated that approximately two weeks after the adoption of Security Council resolution 1559, senior Lebanese and Syrian officials decided to assassinate Rafik Hariri,'' the report said.

The resolution, adopted on Sept. 2, 2004, called for all Syrian troops to leave Lebanon.

The report said the Syrian ``claimed that a senior Lebanese security official went several times to Syria to plan the crime, meeting once at the Meridian Hotel in Damascus and several times at the presidential palace and the office of a senior Syrian security official.''

It said the last meeting was held in the house of the same senior Syrian security official approximately seven to 10 days before the assassination.

Syrian Colonel

The van that carried the bomb entered Lebanon from Syria on Jan. 21 and was driven by a Syrian army colonel, the report said, citing the unidentified witness.

The Syrian source said that he was in Beirut, near the scene of the bombing, 15 minutes before the explosion.

``He received a telephone call from one of the senior Syrian officers, who asked the witness where he was,'' the report said. ``When he answered, he got the advice to leave the area immediately.''

Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan, a former military intelligence chief in Lebanon, committed suicide in his office in Damascus on Oct. 12. Kanaan was a ``prime suspect'' in Hariri's assassination, according to Geoff Porter, Middle East analyst for the Eurasia Group, a New York-based research and consulting firm that does political risk-analysis for businesses.

Bolton told reporters Yesterday he had begun discussions with other envoys on ``contingencies'' for reacting to the report. The U.S. and France plan to introduce two resolutions in the Security Council next week aimed at holding Syria to account for meddling in Lebanon, the Washington Post reported on Oct. 19, citing people close to the diplomacy who it didn't name.

Nejib Friji, chief of the UN information office in Beirut, said Mustafa Hamdan, head of the presidential guard, former general security chief Jameel al-Sayeed, former internal security head Ali al-Hajj, and former army intelligence director Raymond Azar were charged with plotting the murder.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner in United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 21, 2005 00:14 EDT