EU aims to ease tensions over Syria
Staff and agencies
Monday April 14, 2003
Politicians from Britain and other key European Union states were today working to calm growing tensions over Syria, which had been stirred up by belligerent statements about the country from Washington.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, today made it clear that Syria was not "next on the list" of targets for the US and UK coalition forces. But asked whether he believed the country had weapons of mass destruction, he said: "I'm not sure, and that's why we need to talk to them about it."
Mr Straw has sent his junior minister, Mike O'Brien, to Damascus for talks with Syrian president Bashar Assad, who has already repeated denials that his country has weapons of mass destruction.
Meanwhile, the EU policy chief, Javier Solana, today urged Washington to tone down its harsh words about Syria, saying it was time to "cool down" the Middle East's already tense situation.
Over the weekend, President George Bush repeated allegations that Syria might be harbouring Iraqi officials or chemical weapons. Damascus has denied both charges. Syria said it had closed its border with Iraq after US-led forces captured one of Saddam Hussein's half brothers in northern Iraq and said he was planning to flee to Syria.
The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, made matters worse by saying: "The Syrian government is making a lot of bad mistakes, a lot of bad judgements in my view."
Mr Solana, who was speaking ahead of a meeting of EU ministers in Luxembourg to discuss its role in the reconstruction of Iraq, said: "The region is going through a very difficult process and I think it would be better to make constructive statements to see if we can cool down the situation in the region."
Mr Bush had been noncommittal when asked whether accusations made by the US against Syria could lead to an attack on the country. He said: "Each situation will require a different response. We're here in Iraq now ... We expect cooperation from Syria."
He added: "People have got to know that we are serious about stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction."
Meanwhile, Israel is seizing the opportunity to deliver a list of demands to Syria through the US. The demands include ousting Hezbollah guerillas from southern Lebanon and expelling Palestinian militant groups from Damascus.
Israel's defence minister, Shaul Mofas, whose comments were reported today in the Maariv daily newspaper, said: "We have a long list of issues we are thinking of demanding of the Syrians, and it would be best done through the Americans."
He said Israel saw an opportunity to remove the potential Syrian threat from its borders. Since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, the Israeli-Lebanese border has been relatively quiet, but Hezbollah still poses a threat, said Mofaz, adding that Syria facilitated the movement of arms to Hezbollah fighters in their war against Israel.
Syrian foreign ministry spokeswoman Bouthayna Shaaban further inflamed relations with Israel when she told Lebanon's Al-Hayat-LBC channel last night: "I would like to say that here are biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East region. They are in Israel, not in Syria."
