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Arab League concerned over US warning to Syria

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has expressed concern about US charges that Syria was providing military supplies to Iraq to help it defend itself against the US-led war, Egyptian media reported on Monday.

"Such accusations will only inflame the situation further," the English-language Egyptian Gazette quoted Moussa as saying before flying to Athens for talks with officials from the current European Union presidency about the Middle East.

"No evidence has been presented to support this accusation," he added.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week the United States would hold the Syrian government accountable for reported shipments of materiel including night vision goggles to Iraq, calling them "hostile acts".

Rumsfeld also said armed Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim forces supported by Iran were inside Iraq and warned they would be considered combatants if they interfered with US or British forces in the country.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a speech to a powerful US Jewish lobby group on Sunday, urged Syria to abandon its support for "terrorist groups" and the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Both Iran and Syria, the only Arab member of the UN Security Council, have dismissed Rumsfeld's warnings.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Washington was trying to divert attention from "war crimes" committed against Iraqi civilians.-Reuters