WASHINGTON, April 14: The United States on Monday branded Syria a “terrorist state” and threatened it would “examine possible measures of a diplomatic, economic or other nature” if President Bashar’s government did not “review its behaviour”.

A White House statement called on Damascus to turn away supporters of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and to abandon an alleged stockpile of chemical arms.

“They do, indeed, harbour terrorists. Syria is a terrorist state,” spokesman Ari Fleischer said amid widespread speculation that the Iraq invasion was the opening shot of a wider campaign in the region.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ratcheted up the tension by accusing Damascus of carrying out tests involving chemical weapons over the past 12 to 15 months and allowing some Iraqis to flee into Syrian territory. “Syria is associating with the wrong people and this could hurt it.”

Responding to the US accusations, Syria denied it had chemical weapons or had ever cooperated with the Iraqi government.

“We say to him (President George Bush) that Syria has no chemical weapons and that the only chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in the region are in Israel, which is threatening its neighbours and occupying their land,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, trying to build bridges between Syria and the United States, said Washington and London had no plans to invade Syria, but Damascus had “important questions” to answer about its own weapons programmes.

“As far as ‘Syria on the list’, we made clear that it is not,” he said at a news conference in Kuwait during a tour of Gulf states. “There is no next list.”

In the White House statement, Mr Fleischer noted that Syria had a spot on the annual US State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism.

“The United States, for a considerable period of time, has said through diplomatic channels that nations that are rogue nations need to clean up their act. They should not harbour terrorists. They should not produce weapons of mass destruction,” he told reporters.

His comments came a day after President George Bush charged Syria had chemical weapons and renewed the allegation that Syria had taken in remnants of Saddam Hussein’s government and his ruling Baath party.

“Do you think the White House and President Bush should look the other way at the fact that Syria is taking in Iraqi leaders? Do you think we should just ignore it?” said Mr Fleischer. “I think Syria understands our message.”

To buttress the charge that Damascus had chemical weapons, Mr Fleischer cited a CIA report to the US Congress that said Syria had apparently been trying to build on an arsenal that includes a stockpile of sarin, a nerve agent.

“People have to realize that there are acceptable standards of behaviour that the world, and certainly the free Iraqi people, hope will be followed by its neighbours, including Syria,” said Fleischer.

“I think a new dawn is emerging for the Iraqi people, and a dawn of freedom, and I think Syria needs to think about its responsibilities to the Iraqi people when it comes to their behaviour,” Mr Fleischer told reporters.

ISRAEL TAKES ADVANTAGE: Israel, moving quickly to take advantage of the US pressure, demanded Syria gets Hezbollah fighters out of Lebanon and accused it of backing terrorism.