http://www.dailystar.com.lb/01_04_03/art20.asp
The Daily Star (Lebanon)
April 1, 2003
Syria backs Iraqis against 'illegal' invasion
Powell warns Damascus that it faces 'critical' choice
- and warns of 'consequences'
Compiled by Daily Star staff
-Syria, one of the rotating non-permanent members of
the Security Council, "has chosen to be with the
international consensus which has said no to
aggression against Iraq, the bombardments of cities,
the massacre of innocent civilians, the destruction of
houses, power plants and water stations."
-"The resistance of the Iraqis is extremely important.
It is a heroic resistance to the US-British occupation
of their country."
Sharaa said Washington justified its invasion as a war
of "liberation and preservation of democracy and human
rights, while it is killing and destroying."
DAMASCUS: Syria said Monday it had chosen to support
the Iraqi people against the "illegal" US-British
invasion of Iraq, defying a new warning against
Damascus from US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"Syria has chosen to align itself with the brotherly
Iraqi people who are facing an illegal and unjustified
invasion and against whom are being committed all
sorts of crimes against humanity," a Foreign Ministry
spokesman said.
In the latest shot of the growing war of words between
the two countries over Iraq, Powell said that "Syria
now faces a critical choice. Syria can continue direct
support for terrorist groups and the dying regime of
Saddam Hussein, or it can embark on a different and
more hopeful course.
"Either way, Syria bears the responsibility for its
choices, and for the consequences," he said.
Adding fuel to the fire, a senior Israeli intelligence
officer told a parliamentary committee in Jerusalem
that Iraqi chemical and biological weapons may be
hidden in Syria, Israeli public radio said.
"It is possible Iraq transferred missiles and weapons
of mass destruction to Syria," General Yossi
Kupperwasser told the committee Monday.
He said the transfer could be one explanation as to
why US-led forces scouring suspect sites in western
Iraq had found nothing so far, the radio said.
Kupperwasser also estimated the chances of Israel
being attacked by Iraq, as happened in the 1991 Gulf
War, as slim but warned that the regime of President
Saddam Hussein could still try to strike once it
sensed it was about to lose its fight against US-led
forces.
Powell also warned Iran, saying that as part of its
strategy in combating terrorism, Washington was
"demanding more responsible behavior" from "states
that do not follow acceptable patterns of behavior."
Washington considers Syria and Iran state sponsors of terrorism, and
though Syria is not included with Iran, Iraq and North Korea in
President George W. Bush's "axis of evil," it fears it is already being
lined up for US attention after Iraq. The Syrian spokesman said Powell,
"like the whole world, knows that Syria has chosen to be with
international legitimacy represented by the United Nations and the
Security Council, whose role it is to preserve world peace and
security." Syria, one of the rotating non-permanent members of the
Security Council, "has chosen to be with the international consensus
which has said no to aggression against Iraq, the bombardments of
cities, the massacre of innocent civilians, the destruction of houses,
power plants and water stations," the spokesman added. The spokesman
emphasized that Powell was speaking to the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, saying he was clearly "affirming that all the actions
of the US administration in the region serve Israeli interests and plans
and satisfy (Israeli Prime
Minister) Ariel Sharon. The officials of this
administration are thereby obtaining good conduct
certificates from Israel and its supporters in the
United States."
The US charges also drew reaction from Arab League
Sec-
retary-General Amr Moussa, who expressed concern that
"such accusations will only inflame the situation
further," the English-language Egyptian Gazette
reported Monday.
"No evidence has been presented to support this
accusation," he added.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa told
Parliament at the weekend that "Syria's interest is to
see the invaders defeated in Iraq," according to
Monday's official press.
"The resistance of the Iraqis is extremely important,"
he said. "It is a heroic resistance to the US-British occupation of
their country." Sharaa said Washington justified its invasion as a war
of "liberation and preservation of democracy and human rights, while it
is killing and destroying." US and British troops "have been shocked by
the welcome from the Iraqis, who have not received them with flowers but
protests and a fierce resistance against their deceitful slogans," he
added. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday that "we have
information of shipments of military supplies crossing the border from
Syria into Iraq." The deliveries, which he said included night-vision
goggles, "pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces." "We
consider such trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian
government accountable," Rumsfeld charged. He declined to say whether
the Syrian government was behind the shipments, but stressed: "They
control their border. We're hopeful that kind of thing does not happen
again. "There is no question but that to the extent military supplies,
equipment or people move across borders between Iraq and Syria that it
vastly complicates our situation." A senior US commander, Brigadier
General Vincent Brooks, said Monday that to his knowledge US forces had
so far encountered no Iraqi troops carrying night-vision goggles.
Meanwhile, some 400 Syrian women chanted anti-US slogans during a
demonstration in downtown Damascus Monday. The women were waving Syrian,
Iraqi and Palestinian flags as they marched in the protest held near a
district in the capital housing several Arab embassies. More than 100
baton-wielding riot police surrounded the area. - Agencies
Srpska Informativna Mreza
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