Coalition sends out the warning signals to Assad’s Syria

PRESIDENT Bashar al-Assad, facing US accusations that Syria might have chemical weapons and be harbouring fugitive Iraqi officials, met British Foreign Office Minister Mike O’Brien yesterday.

“I was able to brief the president on coalition proposals now that Saddam Hussein’s regime has gone...an interim Iraqi authority will be set up as soon as possible, which will then enable the Iraqis to frame a new constitution and hold elections,” O’Brien said in a statement after the meeting.

“Saddam Hussein is finished. The coalition will go home as soon as the Iraqi people have an elected government,” he added.

Asked if the talks had focused on the US accusations, a Western diplomat said he could give no further details.

O’Brien said he had assured Syria that Iraq’s territorial integrity would be preserved, addressing fears by Damascus, Ankara and Tehran that Iraq could be divided into several states including a Kurdish state.

Syria has expressed deep concern about the lawlessness in Iraq after the collapse of Saddam’s rule and urged the international community to end what it called the US-British occupation of its fellow Arab neighbour.

Diplomatic sources said the Syrian leader, who also met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, tackled regional developments in view of the situation in Iraq.

US President George W Bush’s spokesman said yesterday that Syria could have chemical weapons and be harbouring Iraqi officials who have fled the US invasion of Iraq.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has also repeatedly rapped Damascus for allegedly supporting Iraqis fighting the war and for helping senior Iraqi leaders enter Syria.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said yesterday that Syria was not “next on the list” for military action, but said there was evidence that Syria cooperated with Saddam’s toppled administration. He urged Damascus to change its attitude now Saddam was gone.

The Western diplomat said O’Brien’s visit was part of a series of talks on Iraq between Britain and Iraq’s neighbours.

US accusations about Syria, which has been on a US list of countries sponsoring “terrorism” for many years, have raised concern in the Arab world that Washington could launch a military offensive against Syria.

Syria strongly opposed the US-led war on Iraq, its former rival, saying it will have dire ramifications for the region and the Iraqi people.