Syria cruising for a bruising...
The stiffest warning to Syria yet was issued Monday by US Iraq ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad
September 12, 2005, 7:48 PM (GMT+02:00)
“Our patience is running out,” he said at news conference over help Damascus is giving radical groups in Iraq.
Asked how Washington would respond, the ambassador said “all options are on the table,” including military.
The United States believes Iraqi Sunnis are holding back on the new Iraqi constitution because of threats from Sunni extremists who have infiltrated from Syria, where they have training camps, said Khalilzad.
DEBKAfile adds: The US ambassador’s statement coincided with the arrival in Damascus of the UN Hariri murder’s UN investigator bearing testimony with dangerous implications for the Assad regime, the progression of the massive US-Iraqi offensive against Tal Afar, the Iraqi way-station for terrorists incoming from Syria, and the expiry of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s 24-hour ultimatum to US forces to halt the offensive or face a chemical attack.
Khalilzad went on to say: Syria has to decide what price it's willing to pay to make Iraq’s success difficult. And time is running out for a decision. It simply must close the training camps. “Youngsters misguided by al Qaeda from Saudi Arabia, from Yemen, from North Africa, should not be allowed to fly into Damascus international airport. It shouldn’t be that hard when young men aged 18 to 28 fly in without a return ticket.
“If people like Zarqawi were to dominate Iraq, it would make Afghanistan under the Taliban look like a picnic, given the resources of Iraq, the location of Iraq,” said Ambassador Khalilzad. |
