Syria worries US won't stop at Iraq

Syria is showing increasing signs of unease at Washington's plans to topple Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq, fearing it would be the first step in a wave of regime changes in the Middle East to suit US and Israeli interests.

As momentum builds for an attack on Iraq, analysts say that continued diplomatic and political pressure on Syria is backfiring by pushing Damascus closer to Baghdad. They cite the Syria Accountability Act, being considered by Congress, which seeks to impose sanctions on Damascus unless certain conditions are met.

Demands on the Syrian regime include ending its support for militant anti-Israel groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Lebanon's Hizbullah organization, ending its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, and withdrawing troops from neighboring Lebanon.

"Nobody can call Syria to account," Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa said at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo last week. "There are some people connected by emotional ties and interests to Israel, and Israel directs them. They try to attack others morally, legally, politically, and through the media, and we reject this completely," said Mr. Sharaa.

While the United States has strong reservations about Syria's support of anti-Israel groups considered by Washington to engage in terrorism, the White House is opposed to Congress's bill. At risk is Syria's cooperation with the US in relaying intelligence information on Al Qaeda militants, as well as the administration's efforts to resuscitate the Middle East peace process. "The proposed Syria Accountability Act before the US Congress would, if passed, curtail President Bush's margin of maneuverability," US Middle East envoy David Satterfield said in Beirut last week.

Israel has stepped up its threats against Syria, warning that Damascus is "playing with fire" by permitting Hizbullah guerrillas to continue attacking Israeli army positions in a strip of territory known as the Shebaa Farms, running along Lebanon's southeast border. On Aug. 28, Hizbullah fighters attacked two Israeli military outposts in the Shebaa Farms, the first assault by the Shia Muslim group in four months.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in Washington last week that the Iran- and Syria-backed Hizbullah had made "the A-team of terrorists."

"We're going to go after them just like a high school wrestler goes after opponents, we're going to take them down one at a time," Mr. Armitage said.

His comments, among the strongest yet made against Hizbullah by a senior US administration official, reignited fears in Lebanon of a military strike against the group, possibly by Israel in coordination with a US-led assault on Iraq.

Such comments are welcomed in Israel, which views Hizbullah and Syria as serious threats, analysts say.

"Some in the Israeli establishment smell the way the winds are changing and are saying we should try to knock as many of our enemies out of the way as we can," says Michael Young, a Lebanese political analyst here.

But squeezing Syria has usually had the opposite effect to the one intended.

"Damascus always works the opposite way when pressure is applied to it abroad, especially from the United States," says Murhaf Jouejati, a specialist on Syria at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

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