Syria does not accept monitors to Iraq sanctions

Diplomatic sources in Damascus told the London- based al-Hayat daily issued on Sunday that Syria is very worried from the existence of UN observers to monitor the new sanctions system against Iraq and sees in that as a violation to the Syrian sovereignty on its own territories that it can not accept.

The sources added that Syria will not accept to increase the suffering of the Iraqi people while it is concerned with lifting these sanctions, especially at this period of Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people, besides the Iraqi market has become very important for the Syrian economy and that there are economic problems in Syria that can be solved through consolidating trade relations with Iraq.

The paper indicated that the observers expect the question of the sanctions to be among the files which President Bashar al-Assad will discuss with the French President Jacques Chirac during his visit to Paris scheduled on June 25.

Al-Hayat noted the possibility that an agreement will be signed with the French Elf Aketin company to erect a new oil pipeline from Iraq to Syria in the framework of the UN Security Council resolutions.