Middle East - AP
Syria Denies It Has Chemical Weapons
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer
DAMASCUS, Syria - The Syrian president met with British and Saudi
envoys Monday, and the government denied charges by U.S. officials that
Syria has weapons of mass destruction and is sheltering Iraqi leaders.
"Of course Syria has no chemical weapons.
They (Americans) have been talking for years
about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
(news - web sites). But so far, the presence of
these weapons has not been confirmed," said
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Bouthayna
Shaaban.
"There are biological, chemical and nuclear
weapons of mass destruction in the Middle
East region. They are in Israel, not in Syria,"
she said in a telephone interview with
Lebanon's Al-Hayat-LBC satellite channel late
Sunday.
President Bush (news - web sites) warned
Syria on Sunday not to harbor Iraqi leaders and
charged that Damascus has chemical
weapons.
"We expect cooperation, and I'm hopeful we'll
receive cooperation," he told reporters in
Washington. Bush stopped short of threatening
Syria with military action but added: "People
have got to know that we are serious about
stopping the spread of weapons of mass
destruction."
Syrian President Bashar Assad met Monday
with British Junior Foreign Minister Mike
O'Brien, who came to Damascus as part of a
tour that would also take him to Iraq.
A British Embassy official said O'Brien's visit
was "part of ongoing dialogue between Syria and Britain," adding that Britain
was interested in conducting consultations on post-Saddam Hussein (news
- web sites) Iraq with all the countries neighboring Iraq.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, speaking to reporters in Bahrain on
Monday, said Syria was not the next coalition target after the war on Iraq
but added that it needed to answer questions.
In an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio, Straw said the United
States and Britain would be looking for Syrian cooperation regarding "some
fugitives from Iraq (who) may well have fled to Syria, and other matters,
including whether they have in fact been developing any kind of illegal or
illegitimate chemical or biological programs."
Asked whether he believed the Syrians had weapons of mass destruction,
Straw replied: "I'm not sure, and that's why we need to talk to them about
it."
Assad also met Monday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud. Syria's
official news agency said they discussed "the situation in Iraq and efforts
being exerted by neighboring countries to restore security and stability and
to preserve the unity and integrity of the Iraqi territories."
Assad talked about the latest Iraqi developments with Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) during a telephone call on Sunday
evening.
Syria has denied that any members of the Iraqi leadership had fled to Syria
and says it has closed its border with Iraq.
U.S.-led forces captured one of Saddam's half brothers in northern Iraq and
said he was planning to cross the border to Syria. Iraq's U.N. ambassador,
Mohammed Al-Douri, arrived in Syria on Saturday, a day after leaving New
York.
Shaaban, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told al-Jazeera television that
Syria wanted dialogue with the United States.
"The problem is all the accusations against Syria come from Israel," she
said. "Israel is the primary instigator to undermine Syrian-American
relations."
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