UNITED NATIONS, April 17: Syria on Wednesday introduced a draft resolution backed by Arab nations in the UN Security Council calling for the Middle East to be free of weapons of mass destruction.

“We believe such a draft resolution ... is a very important factor for the peace process and settling the peace and security in the Middle East,” Syrian UN Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said.

The Council members Pakistan, Russia and China supported the idea of the Middle East being a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, known as WMD - and so did the United States.

“We favour as a goal the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from the entire Middle east region,” said US Ambassador John Negroponte.

But the United States sees “a problem” in the draft resolution, he said. “We think the focus at the moment is the search for WMDs in Iraq,” he said. “Secondly, we’re concerned about Syria’s own WMDs.”

With the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq following the US led invasion, US officials threatened sanctions against Syria accusing it of helping the fleeing Iraqis and storing weapons of mass destruction.

The Syrian resolution is aimed at Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel refuses to confirm or deny the claim and is not party to global treaties aimed at controlling the spread of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. According to reports, Israel has some 200 nuclear warheads and the capability to deliver them.

The proposed resolution calls on all countries in the Middle East to ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the nuclear test ban treaty, and the conventions to control chemical and biological weapons.

Syria’s Ambassador Wehbe denied that his country has any weapons of mass destruction and accused the United States of making false allegations to cover up “the aggression and invasion against the Iraqi people and ... the Israeli killing of the Palestinian people.”

Earlier on Wednesday, US officials in Washington said Farouk Hijazi, Iraq’s ambassador to Tunisia and once the No. 3 man in the Mukhabarat, Saddam’s intelligence service, apparently had surfaced in Syria.

Syrian foreign ministry spokeswoman Bouthayna Shaaban denied the accusation, and said Syria was not sheltering any members of Saddam’s regime.

Mr Wehbe said the draft resolution demonstrates Syria was ready to prove it had no nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. He cited a statement by Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa that the government was ready to sign any UN agreement or treaty on setting up a Mideast zone free of weapons of mass destruction.

Syria is a party to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, but not the chemical or biological weapons conventions. Syria’s deputy UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad said his country would join the other conventions if Israel does as well.

A new roadmap to peace supported by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia is expected to be released shortly.