Al-Watan: Syrian, French and British cooperation to spare Iraq military strike

The Saudi daily al-Watan has stated that a French- Syrian and British- Syrian cooperation is being exerted at the mean time with the aim to spare Iraq war. And an understanding concerning it was reached during the visit held by President Bashar al-Assad last week to each of London and Paris in his talks with the British prime minister Tony Blair and with the French President Jacque Chirac.

In its yesterday's issue quoting well-informed American and European diplomatic sources, the paper said that President al-Assad informed each Blair and Chirac that he has fully realized that the recent UN Security Council resolution no. 1441 has not ultimately or definitely abrogated the war, rather confined to postpone the eruption of the war against Iraq and that he had asked the help of both Britain and France, politically and diplomatically to avoid the war.

According to the paper, Blair told President al-Assad that he had played along with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell the main role in convincing the US President George Bush to give the full opportunity for the UN inspection operations for banned weapons in Iraq and postpone the war, and that Blair said to President al-Assad that he is ready to play this peaceful role once again and to prevent military action if the regime in Iraq helps actually the inspectors to discover the sites of mass destruction weapons and thereby facilitate their removal.

The paper added that President al-Assad's talks with President Chirac were similar to that with Blair during where understanding was reached to cooperate in order to prevent the occurrence of the war.