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Syria backs Iraqis against âillegalâ invasion
Compiled by Daily Star (Lebanon) staff Edited for lengthThe Syrians make their choice DAMASCUS: Syria said Monday it had chosen to support the Iraqi people against the âillegalâ US-British invasion of Iraq, defying a new warning against Damascus from US Secretary of State Colin Powell. âSyria has chosen to align itself with the brotherly Iraqi people who are facing an illegal and unjustified invasion and against whom are being committed all sorts of crimes against humanity,â a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. In the latest shot of the growing war of words between the two countries over Iraq, Powell said that âSyria now faces a critical choice. Syria can continue direct support for terrorist groups and the dying regime of Saddam Hussein, or it can embark on a different and more hopeful course. âEither way, Syria bears the responsibility for its choices, and for the consequences,â he said. Adding fuel to the fire, a senior Israeli intelligence officer told a parliamentary committee in Jerusalem that Iraqi chemical and biological weapons may be hidden in Syria, Israeli public radio said. âIt is possible Iraq transferred missiles and weapons of mass destruction to Syria,â General Yossi Kupperwasser told the committee Monday. He said the transfer could be one explanation as to why US-led forces scouring suspect sites in western Iraq had found nothing so far, the radio said. Kupperwasser also estimated the chances of Israel being attacked by Iraq, as happened in the 1991 Gulf War, as slim but warned that the regime of President Saddam Hussein could still try to strike once it sensed it was about to lose its fight against US-led forces. Posted by: kgb 2003-04-01 |
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