BEIRUT, March 27: Syrian President Bashar al Assad said on Thursday the United States and Britain would never be able to subdue Iraq and warned Syria might be the next target on Washington’s list.

In a front-page interview with Lebanon’s As Safir newspaper, President Assad, a staunch opponent of the invasion, also slammed a proposed “roadmap” for Israeli-Palestinian peace as falling short of Palestinian rights and said it would fail.

“For sure, the United States is a superpower that can occupy a relatively small country... The United States and Britain will not be able to control all of Iraq. There will be much tougher resistance,” Mr Assad said.

“But if the American-British designs succeed — and we hope they do not succeed and we doubt that they will — there will be Arab popular resistance, and this has begun.”

Asked if he believed Damascus would be next on Washington’s target list, the president said: “The possibility is always there.”

“As long as Israel exists, the threat is there. As long as there is an aggression on an Arab country and a war on our borders, the danger is there...But worry does not translate to fear.”

He said he had warned Arab leaders at a summit in Egypt earlier this month that several Arab countries might be next.

“When I mention a number of Arab states, it is not logical to exclude Syria, which is the closest (to Iraq) and which has always been at the heart of the struggle against the invaders.”

Mr Assad has roundly criticized other Arab leaders for failing to support efforts to avert an “outright occupation and flagrant aggression”.

Syrian protests have reflected that criticism, labelling some Arab countries accused of tacitly supporting the war as traitors.

Syria, currently the only Arab member of the UN Security Council, has faced US pressure to back down in its opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

Mr Assad said his country’s relations with the United States had always had their ups and downs.

“On positions where interests meet, the Americans are well with us, but on positions where interests differ, they want us to go along with them and we do not,” said Assad, who succeeded his late father in 2000.

Syria, which sided with Washington in the 1991 war, has said it supports the US “war on terror”, but also defends activities by radical Palestinian groups and Hezbollah as legitimate resistance to Israeli occupation.

On the Middle East situation, President Assad said a long-promised “roadmap” for an Israeli-Palestinian peace would fail.—Reuters