DAMASCUS, December 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Accusations by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Iraq had allegedly transferred weapons of mass destruction to neighboring Syria were ridiculous, unfounded and were aimed at diverting the world’s attention from Israel's weapons' arsenal, Damascus said Wednesday, December 25.

"Sharon's allegations are unfounded and aim to divert attention from the chemical, nuclear and biological arsenal that Israel possesses," a Syrian foreign ministry spokesman said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The accusations are ridiculous, especially since Syria has signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and called along with the other Arab countries for the Middle East to be freed from all weapons of mass destruction," he added, quoted by the official news agency SANA.

"The only party that has opposed this call and continues to do so is Israel," he said.

Sharon told Israel's private Channel Two late Tuesday, December 24, he allegedly had information Iraq had transferred chemical or biological weapons into Syria in order to hide them.

Israel agreed with the United States in 1969 not 'to declare' its nuclear weapons programs nor to test the weapons, said AFP.

Washington in return pledged not to pressure Israel to sign the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which would oblige Israel to open its nuclear installations to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

According to experts, Israel possesses at least 200 nuclear warheads and the means to use them in an attack, AFP said.

Sharon's allegations that Iraq may have transferred weapons of mass destruction to Syria comes amid accusations that the premier is trying to divert attention from his own political woes.

Three years after Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations broke down and after more than two years of the Palestinian Intifada, which has seen Damascus-backed Palestinian resistance groups lead the struggle against Israeli occupation, Israel’s relations with Syria hit a new low.

But the cause of tension in Syrian-Israeli relations remains to be Israel’s continued occupation of the Syrian Golan heights since 1967.

With most officials and commentators predicting a U.S. war against Iraq in February, Sharon again tried to lump Syria with Saddam Hussein's threatened regime in the same category.

Sharon's government was angered by the fact that London rolled out the red carpet to welcome Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – the first visit ever to the kingdom by a Syrian president.