LONDON — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won support from the world's richest nations over Syria yesterday, as Washington stepped up a campaign to isolate Damascus on the international stage. Rice repeatedly accused Syria of fomenting instability in Lebanon, doing too little to stop insurgents crossing into Iraq and supporting anti-Israeli militant groups. Ending a week-long trip to the Middle East and Europe, she pushed the issue of Syria at a Group of Eight (G-8) gathering in London, said diplomats."We call on Lebanon's neighbours, in particular Syria, to cooperate in ensuring full compliance with (a UN resolution) and to contribute actively to regional security and stability," the G-8 said in a statement after the meeting.
Rice said Syria had pledged to curb insurgents entering Iraq but the United States wanted results. "Let's have action," she said at a news conference with her foreign minister counterparts at the end of the G-8 meeting. "If they are prepared to do it, they should just do it."
Syria said it would ask Baghdad to provide evidence behind US accusations Damascus was letting Arab militants cross into Iraq to fuel the insurgency there and vowed to prove it false. "We will counter any accusation by evidence and facts and take this to the highest level," Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al Sharaa told reporters in Damascus, adding Syria would "very soon" reopen its Baghdad embassy.
| To service the, um, tourists coming in from Syria. |
| Whacking a few Syrian "intelligence" agents might help set an example. |