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Syria
Says It Supports ‘Iraqi People’ Against Invaders
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Assad
predicted "popular resistance" would prevent invaders
from controlling Iraq
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DAMASCUS,
March 31 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Following a new
warning against Damascus from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell,
Syria said Monday, March 31, it had chosen to support the Iraqi people
against the "illegal" U.S.-British invasion of Iraq.
"Syria
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," a foreign
ministry spokesman said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In
the latest shot in the growing war of words between the two countries
over Iraq, Powell said Sunday that "Syria 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.
"Either
way, Syria bears the responsibility for its choices, and for the
consequences."
Powell,
who also warned Iran, said that as part of its "overall strategy
in combating terrorism," Washington was "demanding more
responsible behavior" from "states that do not follow
acceptable patterns of behavior."
Washington
considers Syria and Iran state sponsors of terrorism, and though Syria
is not included with Iran, Iraq and North Korea on President George W.
Bush's "axis of evil", it fears it is already being lined up
for U.S. “attention” after Iraq.
The
Syrian spokesman said Powell, "like the whole world knows, Syria
has chosen to be with international legitimacy represented by the
United Nations and the Security Council whose role its to preserve
world peace and security."
Syria,
one of the rotating non-permanent members of the Security Council,
"has chosen to be with the international consensus which has said
no to aggression against Iraq, the bombardments of cities, the
massacre of innocent civilians, the destruction of houses, power
plants and water stations," the statement went on.
Noting
that Powell was speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), it said he was clearly "affirming that all the
actions of the U.S. administration in the region serve Israeli
interests and plans and satisfy Ariel Sharon," the Israeli Prime
Minister.
"The
officials of this administration are thereby obtaining good conduct
certificates from Israel and its supporters in the United
States," it added.
Syrian
Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara told parliament at the weekend that
"Syria's interest is to see the invaders defeated in Iraq,"
according to Monday's official press.
"The
resistance of the Iraqis is extremely important," he said.
"It is a heroic resistance to the U.S.-British occupation of
their country."
Shara
said Washington justified its attack on Iraq as a war of
"liberation and preservation of democracy and human rights, while
it is killing and destroying."
U.S.
and British troops "have been shocked by the welcome from the
Iraqis, who have not received them with flowers but protests against
their deceitful slogans and a fierce resistance," he added.
U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday that "we have
information of shipments of military supplies crossing the border from
Syria into Iraq."
The
deliveries, which he said included night vision goggles, "pose a
direct threat to the lives of coalition forces," Rumsfeld
charged. "We consider such trafficking as hostile acts and will
hold the Syrian government accountable."
He
declined to say whether the Syrian government was behind the
shipments, but stressed: "They control their border. We're
hopeful that kind of thing does not happen again.
"There
is no question but that to the extent military supplies, equipment or
people move across borders between Iraq and Syria that it vastly
complicates our situation."
Earlier
Friday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Assad said in an interview
with a Lebanese newspaper that he hoped U.S. forces would fail to oust
Saddam and predicted that if they were to conquer Iraq, "popular
resistance" would prevent them from controlling it.
The
same day, Syrian mufti Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro called for suicide attacks
against U.S. forces, while a foreign ministry spokesman said Rumsfeld
was trying to justify the slow progress of his troops in their drive
on Baghdad.
On
Sunday, Al-Jazeera television reported that an unknown number of
Syrians had arrived in Iraq's northern city of Mosul to fight for
Iraq.
Israel
Again On The Line
Israel,
a long-time foe of Syria, whose Golan Heights it has occupied since
1967, weighed in Monday, with a senior intelligence officer telling a
parliamentary committee that Iraq might have moved missiles and
weapons of mass destruction into Syria.
General
Yossi Kupperwasser said this could explain why U.S.-led forces
scouring suspect sites in western Iraq had found nothing so far,
Israeli radio reported.
However,
a senior U.S. commander, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, said Monday
that to his knowledge, U.S. forces had so far encountered no Iraqis on
the battlefield carrying night vision goggles.
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