SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, March 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called on Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt Saturday, March 01, not to provide military facilities to the United States to wage a war on Iraq.

"I suggest adopting a resolution stating the need not to provide military facilities for the war," he told the summit in this Red Sea resort, attended by heads of states and officials representing the 22 Arab League members, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"We are not asking the closure of the bases, that is a matter of sovereignty. But the important thing is that the forces (deployed there) do not go beyond the border of the country where they are based," he added.

His request is aimed at several Arab Gulf states, like Kuwait and Qatar, hosting large numbers of U.S. troops preparing for a possible showdown.

Assad, who has built a reputation for his frank talking in previous Arab summits, said "any overflowing of these forces beyond the border would make an aggressor of the (host) country that would have to bear responsibility."

The Syrian President said that if Arab leaders agree on this point," I propose sending a delegation to the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and other influent states to inform them of the summit's decision."

He said that he is not asking for the implementation of joint Arab defense agreement to protect Iraq, or the withdrawing of the American forces from Arab states, but just not to give any military facilities for this war,” said Al Assad.

The same delegation would afterward travel to Baghdad "to discuss the situation in a balanced way with the Iraqis," he added.

He added that if an Arab delegation were to go immediately to Baghdad now, would be as if it were laying the blame on Baghdad for the current crisis as if it hasn’t been cooperating with the United Nations.

He described as "empty" U.S. comments promising the promotion of democracy and human rights in the Middle East after the war.

"They are cover used by the United States to fool the world, but they fool nobody," he said.

Meanwhile, the UAE has issued an appeal at the summit for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to resign and put Iraq under the tutelage of the Arab League and the United Nations, a source close to the UAE delegation said, AFP reported.