A UN report has come out with a bombshell: YES, it says, the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was indeed a conspiracy — a terrorist act scripted by Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services.

Now, the question becomes: what will be the political consequences of this finding? But, for now, the findings are explosive enough as this New York Times report notes:

The report by the chief United Nations investigator, Detlev Mehlis, said, “The assassination of 14 February 2005 was carried out by a group with an extensive organization and considerable resources and capabilities.”

The report said, “There is converging evidence pointing at both Lebanese and Syrian involvement in this terrorist act.”

The report said that the crime had been planned “over many months” and that the movements of Mr. Hariri and the convoy he traveled in had been closely monitored with his “itineraries recorded in detail.”

Mr. Hariri died when a bomb exploded his car on a downtown Beirut street.

“Given the infiltration of Lebanese institutions and society by the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services working in tandem, it would difficult to envisage a scenario whereby such a complex assassination plot could have been carried out without their knowledge,” the report concluded.

So these were lower-level flunkies? Not quite. Read Bloomberg’s report:

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.”

Watch developments with Syria: if the U.S. has considered any kind of lightning military operation, this report is going to be cited because the report paints Syria as the epitome of a country that uses terrorism to achieve political goals. The LA Times notes that a UN resolution is in the works about Syria:

Last week, Syrian President Bashar al Assad insisted that his country was “100 percent innocent” in the killing, but the report said Syrian officials must clarify “unresolved questions.”

The U.S. and France have been considering a resolution that would sanction Syrian officials implicated in the killing, but diplomats said they wanted to digest the report’s findings and consult with other members before deciding on the course of action. Mehlis will brief the council Tuesday.

“We have just received the report and we’re going to look at it very carefully tonight, evaluate it, and decide on the basis of that evaluation and consultation what the next steps will be,” said U.S. Ambassador John Bolton in a phone interview.. “We’ve already been in consultations considering the various possibilities.”

The transcript of the UN report is HERE.