WASHINGTON,
April 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - U.S. has stepped up
its pressure on Syria Monday, April 14, and warned it may impose
diplomatic and economic sanctions on Damascus to reject Saddam
Hussein's supporters, weapons of mass destruction and “terrorism”.
As
the Iraqi invasion nears completion, U.S. Secretary of State Collin
Powel indicated the greater attention U.S. gives to Syria. "We
will examine possible measures of a diplomatic, economic or other
nature as we move forward."
The
Secretary of State did not say what sanctions would be considered but
officials said Washington could consider recalling its Ambassador to
Damascus. It could also downgrade diplomatic relations as it did once
in 1986.
Syria
is already subject to some U.S. sanctions as it is designated a
"state sponsor of terrorism" by the State Department.
Meanwhile,
the White House branded Syria a "terrorist state" and a
"rogue nation" and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said
Syria has conducted a chemical weapons test during the past 15 months,
according to Agence France Presse (AFP).
Rumsfeld
said the United States also has intelligence that Syria has allowed
Syrians and others enter Iraq with arms and leaflets indicating that
they would be rewarded for killing Americans.
Syria
Denies U.S. allegations.
A
Syrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Bouthana Shaaban, insisted that
"the only country in the region which has chemical, biological
and nuclear weapons is Israel".
And
the fact that a senior Iraqi official had been found near the
Iraqi-Syrian border was "evidence that Syria didn't let him in,
and didn't let any member of the family in or anybody of the regime
in," she told the BBC News Online.
"We
never had friendly relations with them and certainly none of them even
applied to come to Syria," she said.
However,
the BBC News Online has quoted a top Iraqi general who switched sides
during the invasion as saying that Syria has given refuge to members
of Saddam Hussein's regime.
General
Ali al-Jajjawi - former Republican Guard commander in the northern
city of Mosul - said Saddam's Baath Party deputy Izzat Ibrahim and
other top figures had fled to Syria shortly before the city fell last
Friday
On
Sunday, U.S. President George W. Bush charged Syria had chemical
weapons and renewed the allegation that Syria has taken in remnants of
Saddam's dismantled regime and his Baath party.
Britain
and Israel have made similar allegations, all denied by Syria and
other Arab states have also expressed concern at the mounting pressure
on the Damascus regime.
British
Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that Syria's President Bashar
al-Assad has promised his country will stop fleeing Iraqis from
crossing its border.
And
Blair told the House of Commons that Britain and the United States had
no plans to invade Syria, despite the U.S. charges that senior Iraqi
regime figures were taking refuge in the country.
"I
spoke with President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend and he assured
me that they would interdict anybody who's crossing over the border
from Iraq into Syria," Blair said, adding: "I believe they
are doing that."
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|
"We
will examine possible measures of a diplomatic, economic or other
nature as we move forward," Powell
|
Powell
noted that Syria had pledged last week to close its border with Iraq
to all non-humanitarian traffic. But he again warned Damascus
specifically against allowing any one of the 55 senior Iraqi officials
- led by Saddam and his sons - wanted by U.S. forces to cross.
"These
are the kinds of individuals who should not be allowed to find safe
haven in Syria," he said.
"Once
they get into Syria and start heading to Damascus, I would expect
Syrian authorities would do everything they could not to provide these
people safe haven," Powell said.
The
secretary said the overthrow of Saddam's regime had fundamentally
changed the environment in the Middle East and that support for
terrorism or terrorist regimes as well as the pursuit of weapons of
mass destruction would no longer be tolerated.
Russia
Urges Washington To Tone Down Criticism
Deputy
Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov was qouted by BBC News Online as
saying, "Harsh statements being made in Washington may
considerably complicate the situation in the Middle East".
The
UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw denied suggestions that Syria was
"next on the list" to be targeted over alleged weapons of
mass destruction. But he stressed that Syria must answer some
"important questions".
UK
Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien held talks with President Assad
in Damascus on Monday.
Ties
between Syria and the U.S. have long been strained by U.S. support for
Israel and Syria's backing of the Lebanese group Hezbollah and radical
Palestinian groups, which Washington considers "terrorist".
The
U.S. has repeatedly accused Syria of the "hostile act" of
supplying Iraq with night vision goggles and other military equipment,
fuelling already fraught tensions between the two nations.
U.S.
intelligence has long suspected Syria of having a well-developed
chemical weapons program as well as long-range missiles.
Some
U.S. experts believe Syria's program started in earnest after clashes
with Israel in 1982, with two chemical weapons plants established by
1984 to produce significant amounts of nerve gases such as Sarin and
VX.
