Syria summon the US ambassador in Damascus

The Syrian foreign ministry on Friday summoned the US ambassador in Damascus Theodore Qattouf to inform him her strong objection to statements made by the US under secretary of state Richard Armitaj in which he said that states like Syria might face an operation in a later phase of the current campaign against terrorism.

A diplomatic source said that Syria considers Armeitaj's statements as contradictory to the speech made by the US President George Bush in which he stressed Syria's determination to take part in the war against terrorism and that Washington takes this Syrian proposal seriously.

The diplomatic source added that Syria said it does not understand the contradiction between statements made by the US President Bush and the US under secretary of state especially as Syria had strongly denounced the attacks on the US through the position announced by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who stressed Syria's condemnation of international terrorism and called for a collective effort to eliminate terrorism as a phenomenon.

The source indicated that Syria together with the Arab and Islamic countries also stressed the importance of making a distinction between terrorism and the right of peoples to resist foreign occupation. A matter which was guaranteed by the UN charter and international norms. The source remarked that this very position was conveyed to the US ambassador.