"There's not a chance that there is going to be a deal," Rumsfeld said

WASHINGTON, April 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday, April 3, claimed anew that shipments of military material were still making their way from Syria to Iraq, despite earlier U.S. warnings.

"We have seen Syria continue conducting itself in the same way it did prior to when I said what I said," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing in reference to his claim last week that military equipment, including night-vision goggles, had been shipped across the border from Syria to Iraq.

He declined at the time to say whether the Syrian government was behind the shipments but said Damascus would be held accountable because it controls the border.

Rumsfeld also said unnamed third countries were encouraging the Iraqi regime to "cut a deal" but he said flatly that would be no such arrangement, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"There's no question but that some governments are discussing from time to time some sort of a cutting a deal," he said.

"The inevitable result of this, let there be no doubt, is to give hope and comfort to the Saddam Hussein regime, and give them ammunition that they can then try use to retain the loyalty of their forces," he said.

"There's not a chance that there is going to be a deal," Rumsfeld asserted, without identifying the countries attempting to work out a diplomatic settlement.

Syria Not Feeling Threatened

"We don't take them as a threat of military action against Syria," said Shaaban

Syria does not feel under threat of U.S. military action although it is at odds with Washington over the war in Iraq and the Arab-Israeli peace process, a senior foreign ministry official said Thursday.

"We don't take them as a threat of military action against Syria," said Bussaina Shaaban, head of the ministry's information department, referring to U.S. warnings for Syria to stay out of the war in neighboring Iraq.

"Sometimes, the statements are coming from U.S. officials against Syria, sometimes from Israeli officials, ... to target Syria because of its fair and objective stand, but Syria doesn't change its choices," Shaaban told reporters.

"The choice of Syria is to be for peace, with peaceful solutions for every issue in the region," she said, speaking in English.

The foreign ministry official said Syria's relations with the United States would remain strong, despite what she described as Israeli efforts to wreck such ties, and reiterated that Syria's position on the war would remain unchanged.

"Syria has always worked for good relations with the USA, and will always work for good relations. The vision of Syria is that there is no contradiction in interests between the USA and Syria in the region," said Shaaban.

"We believe that this aggression that is taking place against Iraq is in the long run not in the interest of the U.S. people nor in the interest of the USA."

Shaaban however blasted Washington for the civilian casualties in the Iraq war, saying the conflict had to stop immediately.

"If there is a political problem between the U.S. government and Iraqi government, it should be solved without making the Iraqi people pay the price," she said.

"U.S. officials define terrorism to be targeting civilians for political purposes, which exactly applies to what they are doing in Iraq," she added.

"Syria believes the last thing this region needs is a war against innocent civilians."

Responding to a question on whether Damascus was supporting Saddam or his regime, Shaaban responded that Syria was "supporting the Iraqi civilian people. The Syrian people do not accept killing of civilian innocent people."

"Until now, Syria has been supporting Iraq through political means, the Security Council, meetings with the neighbors of Iraq, with Europeans," she added.

Shaaban said many countries were asking Damascus to allow the transfer of humanitarian aid to Iraq, and Syria was willing to help in this.

Questioned about Syrian support to Arab volunteers wishing to fight in Iraq, Shaaban only said they were coming "from all over the world," and "are very angry of what is happening in Iraq. This war has to stop."

Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara on Monday said he hoped U.S. and British forces would be defeated in Iraq.

And President Bashar al-Assad charged in an interview in an Austrian daily that the United States had no real interest in a Middle East peace and instead wanted to "remodel" the region.