August 20, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Saani 10, 1423

DAMASCUS: Syria is sounding the alarm about what it says is Washington’s ambition to use an attack on Iraq to reshape the Middle East to suit US and Israeli interests.

Syrian analysts and the press have issued increasingly shrill warnings in recent days, saying that behind Washington’s plan to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein lies a strategy of imposing puppet regimes in the region, and might even include an eventual attack on Syria and Lebanon.

Western diplomats say the fever-pitch of Syrian rhetoric reflects real Arab fear that Washington will use any eventual control of Baghdad to change the Middle East order, and has Syria, a key player in any future Arab-Israeli settlement, firmly in its sights.

Syrian officials are particularly concerned at the Syria Accountability bill, draft legislation under consideration in the US Congress. The bill threatens Damascus with sanctions unless it ends its support for Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad as well as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Damascus, which has long had a troubled relationship with Washington, is also concerned that the United States may be turning against its traditional allies in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Syria believes that the US has more sinister designs. Long a fixed star on a US list of rogue states that sponsor “terrorism”, Damascus fears it could be next in line if Washington succeeds in getting control of Baghdad.

Syria argues the focus should be shifted to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reviving talks between itself and Israel for the return of the Golan Heights.—Reuters