US presses Syria to end support for anti-Israeli guerrilla groups

Published on Sunday 4 May 2003 01:00

US SECRETARY of State Colin Powell met Syria’s president on Saturday to demand that Syria stop supporting anti-Israeli guerrillas and conform to US plans for the Middle East after the war in Iraq.

Powell’s visit follows a period of tension between Washington and Damascus during the Iraq war over US allegations that Syria was allowing Iraqi fugitives into its territory and military equipment into Iraq.

But yesterday Powell dismissed suggestions that Syria was next after Iraq on any list of US military targets.

"I am here to pursue diplomacy and mutual political efforts that both sides could be taking, so the issue of war and hostilities is not on the table," he said shortly before visiting President Bashar al-Assad’s palace.

"I will be discussing ... organisations that are headquartered in Syria that have rejectionist agendas, other issues with respect to weapons of mass destruction development, [and] sealing the border with Iraq," he said.

Syria has made clear that it wants dialogue and not ultimatums from the United States.

Powell, on his first Middle East trip since US-led troops overthrew Saddam Hussein, says his message is that change in Iraq and the prospect of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians creates a "new strategic dynamic" in the region.

He said on Friday that if Syria did not change its policies, it could face sanctions under a Syria Accountability Act revived in the US Congress and the Patriot Act of 2001.

Powell has bitter memories of a visit to Damascus in early 2001, when he thought he had a promise from Assad that Syria would stop buying Iraqi oil in violation of UN sanctions.

But Syria continued to import up to 200,000 barrels a day of discounted Iraqi oil by pipeline until the United States began the invasion of Iraq in March. The trade earned Syria hundreds of millions of dollars a year in profit.

"I got an assurance two years ago. I will always have that in the background software and on my hard drive," Powell said.

However, he added that he now wanted to talk about the future, with the emphasis on whether Syria would cooperate with a Middle East peace plan or "roadmap" which international mediators gave to the Israelis and Palestinians this week.

Syria has links with the Lebanese group Hizbollah and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have rejected the peace plan, saying it was weighted in Israel’s favour.

Analysts say Syrian support for Hizbollah and the Palestinian radicals is meant as leverage with Israel to recover the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.

Yesterday, Powell said that the United States was committed to a comprehensive settlement including the Golan Heights and Lebanon but that this would not necessarily happen at the same pace as Israeli-Palestinian talks.ROADMAP THREAT: PAGE 25