DAMASCUS - Syria on Tuesday demanded that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice provided proof of her renewed allegations that Damascus is supporting insurgents fighting in neighbouring Iraq.
"Who are these terrorists and where is Rice's proof for repeating these accusations against Syria? No one will say," the official Tishrin newspaper said.
"What is important (for Washington) is that Syria remain under pressure in order to satisfy American neoconservatives and Israelis."
After a surprise visit to Iraq, Rice on Monday again accused Damascus of supporting "foreign terrorists" in the violence-wracked country and pledged to renew US pressure on Syria.
The United States, which last May imposed economic sanctions on Damascus, is "going to go back and look again at what the neighbours can do, particularly the Syrians, to stop support for these foreign terrorists (in Iraq)," she said.
"We believe they are gathering on Syrian territory and coming across."
US officials have frequently accused Syria of aiding the Iraqi insurgency by supplying foreign fighters, or by failing to prevent militants from crossing the border into Iraq.
In her remarks Monday, the US secretary of state added that Damascus is "out of step with the rest of the region."
But the Tishrin newspaper retorted: "Rice wanted to inform us that US forces count on staying in Iraq, that pressure on Syria will follow, that the neoconservative vision has not changed, and that people must ally themselves (with the United States) if they want to avoid American punishment."
Earlier this month, US President George W. Bush renewed the sanctions which place restrictions on air travel from Syria and ban the export of arms and most US-made products to Syria.
05/17/2005 10:36 GMT