Syria sending arms to Iraq

JERUSALEM -- Syria is funneling weapons into Iraq in defiance of a U.N. arms embargo, an Israeli military analyst reported Monday.

In a front-page article in Haaretz daily, Zeev Schiff wrote that weapons and military equipment, mainly from eastern Europe, were being shipped to Syrian ports and then sent on to Iraq by road and rail. The report gave no source for the information.

Russian-made jet and tank engines and Czech anti-aircraft cannons are being sent to Iraq through Syria, as well as engines bought in Ukraine, radar for MiG fighters and other equipment from Hungary and Serbia, Schiff wrote.

There was no immediate comment from Syria, which in June held the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council.

Interviewed on Israeli Radio, Schiff said Syrian ties with Iraq had blossomed under the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad, though such contacts would have been unthinkable under his father, Hafez Assad, who died two years ago.

Hafez Assad was long at odds with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Assad supported Iran in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and aligned himself with the West against Saddam in the Gulf War.

The impetus behind improved Syrian-Iraqi ties appears to be financial. Iraq is reportedly exporting 150,000 to 200,000 barrels daily of oil illegally to Syria at a concessionary rate of about $14 a barrel, and has opened its market to Syrian products.

Syrian-Iraqi political ties are hampered by mutual distrust and have moved at a slower pace than economic relations. Syria still harbors several Iraqi opposition factions, but last month asked five opposition groups to stop publishing their anti-Saddam newspapers in Damascus.

America accuses Iraq of producing and possessing weapons of mass destruction and President Bush says his administration is seeking to oust Saddam as Iraq's leader.

A U.S. senator who visited the Middle East said last week that Syria was giving a mixed response to Bush's call for countries to choose sides in the U.S. war on terrorism.

Sen. Michael DeWine, a Republican from Ohio, who met Assad and other Syrian leaders, said the visiting U.S. delegation was told that Syria would work with the United States to fight terrorism.

But the Syrians also restated their support for Hezbollah, the hardline Lebanese Islamic militia that the United States considers to be a terrorist organization. Syria and other Arabs consider Hezbollah a legitimate resistance group against Israel.