Syria welcomes planned Powell visit

US Secretary of State Colin Powell is planning to visit the Middle East soon as part of efforts to restart the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Powell will also go to Syria to put further pressure on the government in Damascus not to harbour fleeing Iraqi regime figures.

Syria’s foreign minister welcomed the news of the visit as a “goodwill gesture” after weeks of rising tensions with Washington.

Senior US officials have recently warned Syria in strong terms not to help protect any of Saddam Hussein’s inner circle, and have also accused Damascus of possessing chemical weapons.

Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said United Nations weapons inspectors would not be allowed in to search his country.

And he warned the United States against a lengthy occupation of Iraq.

“We are facing a dangerous transformation and the occupation of an Arab country, Iraq,” he said.

“We have said that occupation is rejected by the majority, if not all, of the Iraqi people and the days ahead will prove this.”

He added that the “appropriate method to achieve stability ... is the withdrawal of the invading forces and allowing Iraqis to have their own government.

“This colonialism cannot continue, if it continues then its occupation,” he said. “It will not succeed politically and it clearly has lost morally.”

In recent days, top US officials have accused Syria of providing Iraq with war materiel, giving haven to senior Iraqi officials and terrorist groups, and allowing foreign fighters to join the war against the Allies in Iraq.

American forces have also shut down a pipeline used for illegal oil smuggling from Iraq to Syria.

But al-Sharaa said he welcomed Powell’s forthcoming visit: “We believe dialogue is the best for the two peoples and serves the interests of peace and stability in the Middle East,” he said.

Al-Sharaa was today flying to a regional conference in Saudi Arabia on the consequences of the Iraq war on the region.

No date has been set yet for Powell’s visit, but US State Department officials have suggested it will not be for at least a week.

The success of Powell’s visit to Israel is expected to hang on the new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas being confirmed in office.

Abbas is currently battling hard against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat over who will be in his cabinet.

Once his cabinet is announced – maybe as soon as next week – the US has pledged to release the latest plan for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, known as the roadmap.

In Damascus, Syrians marked the 57th anniversary of independence from France yesterday with blistering attacks on the US and calls for it to end its “barbaric occupation” of neighbouring Iraq.

The Al-Thawra newspaper denounced the recent American accusations against Syria as “unjust,” saying Israel is playing off Washington against Damascus “in an attempt to achieve its sinister expansionist plans in the region”.

The Syria Times, one of several official newspapers, quoted President Bashar Assad as saying: “Syria will never surrender to hostile plots of aggression and expansion.”

The Tishrin newspaper said: “The colonisers have returned with their old methods and ugly face more than half a century since the demise of colonialism.”