The US made renewed verbal attacks on Syria yesterday with the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department accusing Damascus of sponsoring terrorism and possessing chemical weapons.
Despite assurances from the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, that Syria was not "next on the list", a plea from the EU Foreign Policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, for everyone to "cool off" went apparently unheard last night in Washington.
The US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, accused Syria of carrying out tests involving chemical weapons over the past 12 to 15 months and allowing some Iraqis to flee into Syrian territory.
The US had "intelligence that indicates that some Iraqi people have been allowed into Syria, in some cases to stay and some cases to transit," said Mr Rumsfeld after a meeting in Washington with the Kuwaiti Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah.
"I would say that we have seen chemical weapons tests in Syria over the past 12, 15 months," he added, but did not give any details.
"We have intelligence that shows that Syria has allowed Syrians and others to come across the border into Iraq, people armed and people carrying leaflets indicating that they'll be rewarded if they kill Americans and members of the coalition."
Syria denied the accusations. "We say to him [President 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," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Ms Buthaina Shaaban. Earlier, the White House said "Syria is indeed a rogue nation" but was now operating in what Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, termed a "new environment" following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
"Syria needs to co-operate. A new dawn is emerging for the Iraqi people, the dawn of freedom, and I think Syria needs to think about its responsibilities to the Iraqi people when it comes to their behaviour," said President Bush's spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer.
Syria remains on the State Department's list of states that sponsor international terrorism for backing the anti-Israeli militant groups Hamas and Hizbollah. Mr Powell said it was hoped that all nations in the region would review past practices and behaviour.
"In light of this new environment they \ should review their actions and their behaviour, not only with respect to who gets haven in Syria and weapons of mass destruction but especially the support of terrorist activity," Mr Powell said.
Mr Fleischer read from a CIA report which said Damascus already held a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin, but was trying to develop more toxic nerve agents.
Asked why the Bush administration was raising the weapons of mass destruction charge now, when it had not over the last six months, Mr Fleischer said: "It's a relevant fact."