March 29, 2003	Saturday	Muharram 25, 1424

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WASHINGTON, March 28: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday issued a dire warning to Tehran and Damascus to steer clear of Iraq, alleging that military equipment had crossed into the country from Syria and Iran-based rebels.

“We have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night vision goggles,” he said at a Pentagon news conference.

“These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces. We consider such trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable for such shipments,” he said.

He also said that hundreds of Iranian-backed Iraqi rebels had been seen coming into Iraq, in reference to the Badr Corps, the military wing of the Supreme Council on Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the main Iran-based Iraqi opposition movement.

“The Badr Corps is trained, equipped and directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard and we will hold the Iranian government responsible for their actions and will view Badr Corps activity inside Iraq as unhelpful,” said Mr Rumsfeld.

“Armed Badr Corps members found in Iraq will have to be treated as combatants,” he said. —AFP