- KUWAIT (Reuters) - Top British
officials said on Monday that Washington and London had no plans to invade
Syria, but Damascus had "important questions" to answer about
its own weapons programs.
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- "As far as 'Syria next on the list', we made clear
that it is not," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters in Bahrain
during a Gulf Arab tour.
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- "There is no 'next' list," he said. "There
are important questions which the Syrians need to answer."
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- Straw earlier told BBC Radio that British Prime Minister
Tony Blair had assured parliament last week that he knew of no plans for
military action against Syria now that U.S. and British forces had invaded
Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein.
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- But, although Washington and London say no military action
against Syria is planned, both have raised questions about whether Damascus
has its own stockpiles of chemical weapons, or is providing sanctuary to
Iraqi weapons scientists.
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- "There is much evidence of considerable cooperation
between the Syrian government and the Saddam regime in recent months,"
Straw told a news conference in Kuwait, the second stop of a tour that
will also take in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
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- "It is very important for Syria to appreciate there
is a new reality now the Saddam regime is gone and that its policies and
approach reflect that new reality," he said.
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- Syria denied it had chemical weapons or that it had ever
cooperated with Saddam's administration.
-
- "We say to him (President Bush) that Syria has no
chemical weapons and that the only chemical, biological and nuclear weapons
in the region are in Israel, which is threatening its neighbors and occupying
their land," foreign ministry spokeswoman Buthaina Shaaban told Reuters.
-
- "There was never any cooperation between Damascus
and Baghdad," she added.
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- Like Israel, Damascus is not a party to the international
convention banning chemical weapons and so is under no legal constraint.
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- DAMASCUS TALKS
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- London has dispatched Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien
to Damascus, where he was due to hold talks with Syrian officials later
on Monday.
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- Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon, speaking to reporters in
London, would not say explicitly whether Britain believed Syria had chemical
weapons, but said London had concerns about "efforts they have made
certainly in the past."
-
- "We are certainly anxious that they should not take
advantage of any scientists or military figure fleeing across the border
from Iraq, and that is why it is important to continue emphasizing this
issue at this stage," he said.
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- Syria has been on the U.S. list of countries supporting
terrorism for many years, and some hawks in Washington say that after Iraq,
the United States should set its sights on "regime change" in
Syria and Iran.
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- Syria's bitter opposition to the war on neighbor Iraq
has further outraged Washington, which invaded Iraq almost a month ago
to topple Saddam and destroy his alleged cache of weapons of mass destruction.
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- Baghdad insisted it did not have any such weapons and
the invading forces have yet to find them.
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