The US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell has rejected the idea of US support for an Arab-backed UN resolution on ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction.
The proposal is obviously aimed at Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, but refuses to confirm or deny the claim. It is not party to global treaties aimed at controlling the spread of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
Speaking prior to his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Mr Powell said clearing destructive weapons from the region was a long-standing US goal, but now was not the time to address that matter.
Syria introduced the resolution in the UN Security Council yesterday. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said it could enhance the chances for peace in light of the new US-backed "road map" to peace that is now before Israelis and Palestinians.
"I think it is a goal that we have to pursue over time, and not ... at the moment of any particular declaration that might be put forward for political purposes, or to highlight the issue," Mr Powell said.
Mr Powell was in Syria to help sell the road map, or blueprint, for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians that hopefully can bring their 31-month violent conflict to an end. He has now left for Beirut to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiz al-Hariri before heading back to Washington.
Today's talks were a prelude to a second Mideast trip by Powell next week for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mr Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian prime minister.
Mr Powell's agenda included a rack of US allegations that Syria supports terrorism, that it sent technology and fighters to Iraq and gave haven to Iraqi officials as Saddam Hussein's rule dissolved.
Mr Powell said, however, that the United States is not looking to pressure Syria with military action in this new post-Iraq war reality. "I am here to pursue diplomacy and mutual political efforts that both sides can be taking. So the issue of war hostilities is not on the table," he said.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell saidthe Syrian authorities had told him during meetings in DamascusSaturday that they had closed the offices of some of theanti-Israeli groups demanded by the United States. AP