U.S. says Syria facilitates terror in Iraq, Israel and Lebanon--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last update - 10:02 17/09/2005
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/625873.htmlBy The Associated Press
In a spirited attack, the State Department's spokesman accused Syria of making trouble not only for Iraq, by allowing foreign fighters to infiltrate the country, but also for Lebanon and the Palestinians.
Adam Ereli characterized Syrian government-sponsored trips to the borders to illustrate for diplomats and international observers the difficulty of closing them as a "dog and pony show" that proved nothing.
"Syria, more and more, is being recognized as a destabilizing element in the region," Ereli said Friday. "It's not just about Iraq; it's about Iraq, it's about Lebanon, it's about the Palestinian Authority. Because there's a connection between Syria and terrorism and murder and mayhem in each of these three different areas."
Syrian President Bashar Assad's government insists it does what it can to keep foreigners from crossing the border into Iraq and has said in the past it was trying to control militant anti-Israeli Palestinian groups based in Damascus.
The Americans contend that many of the suicide bombings in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion 2 and-a-half years ago have been committed by foreign fighters who entered the country through Syria. State Department and other U.S. spokesmen have alleged the bombers pass through Damascus' airport with impunity on their way to the border.
Ereli's comments Friday were in reply to a reporter's question why the United States refuses to accept Syrian assurances and engage the country "toward finding a solution to the situation in Iraq" instead of using "rhetoric or statements made against Syria."
"Look," Ereli said, "innocent people are getting blown up in Iraq not because of rhetoric and not because of a lack of desire for engagement. Innocent people are getting blown up in Iraq because Syria is allowing its territory to be used by terrorist bent on sowing murder and mayhem in Iraq.
"And they're not going to succeed. The international community is not going to let this continue to happen."
He accused Syria, which removed its occupying army from Lebanon this year, of maintaining "a residual presence" that endangers Lebanon's sovereignty and its people.
As for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and the West Bank, Ereli said, Syria continues its association "with terrorist elements that are bent on sabotaging the peace process. ... And they are certainly out of step with the rest of the world on that."
Last Saturday, Assad hosted leaders of 10 Palestinian groups based in Damascus. The news agency SANA said he told them to close ranks and continue their struggle to achieve a Palestinian state.
Ereli said Syria has ignored pleas to stop the border crossings from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, his successor, current Secretary Condoleezza Rice, and other State Department officials.
"Does Syria not care that young guys from Yemen or Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan or Iran come into Damascus airport with a one-way ticket and no job and no place to stay and then find their way into Iraq where they strap bombs to themselves and blow themselves up and kill children in a market? Women and children in front of a market??
"I mean, why does Syria continue to let that happen unless there's a deliberate decision to do it? There certainly seems to be an unwillingness to take actions to stop it."
The questioner asked about the Syrians' border trips meant to prove that Syria was trying to keep the border closed.
"I don't know what dog and pony show the Syrian authorities organized on their borders, but the fact of the matter is, there are insurgents ... who end up in Iraq and blow themselves up and kill people, and that they couldn't have done it without Syria and Syrian territory playing a critical and necessary intermediary role."