The Hindu : `Damascus has key questions to answer'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2003

International

International

`Damascus has key questions to answer'

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA April 14. The visiting British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, today said the Anglo-American coalition did not intend to attack Syria, but Damascus had to answer key questions about its alleged role in shielding Iraqi fugitives.

``As far as `Syria next on the list', we made clear that it is not,'' Mr. Straw told reporters in Bahrain, his first halt in a four-nation tour of the Persian Gulf countries that also includes Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. ``There is no next list,'' he said. "There are important questions which the Syrians need to answer." While ruling out a war threat, Mr. Straw made it clear that Syria was still not off the hook. On the contrary, his observations come a day after the U.S. President, George Bush, issued a blunt warning to Syria, urging it to change course on the question of Iraqi fugitives and chemical weapons.

Israel, Syria's neighbour, also stepped up the pressure on Damascus on Monday. The Israeli Defence Minister, Shaul Mofaz, has asked Syria to dismantle the extremist group, Hezbollah, and to ensure that rockets belonging to this group are removed from southern Lebanon from where they can target Israel.

Reinforcing the squeeze on Syria, the Saudi Foreign Minister, Saud al Faisal, and the British Foreign Office Minister, Mike O'Brien, called on the Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, on Monday, apparently to discourage him from sheltering Iraqi leaders.

Diplomatic sources point out that the intense pressure that is being mounted on Syria is because of Anglo-American fears that Damascus, through its exertions, can deprive the alliance of a justification for waging war against Iraq. The U.S. so far has been unable to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, whose alleged existence inside Iraqi territory was the chief cause for targeting Iraq.

As the hunt for these weapons is turning increasingly fruitless, pressure is mounting in London and Washington to explain the launch of military action against Baghdad. Consequently, Syria has increasingly become the focus of Anglo-American attention. Syria on its part has denied the existence of any chemical weapons or the presence of Iraqi fugitives on its territory. It has also blamed Israel for souring its relations with the United States.

"Of course Syria has no chemical weapons. They (Americans) have been talking for years about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But so far, the presence of these weapons has not been confirmed,'' said the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Bouthayna Shaaban.

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