Syrian official source condemns Iraqi defense minister accusations

Iraq's defense minister Sadoun al-Duleimi criticized Syria and said during his recent visit to Jordan that the Syrian- Iraqi borders are almost the only area of infiltration.

He said in a press conference in conclusion of talks he had held with the Jordanian prime minister Adnan Badran that Iraq has a joint border of 620 km with the Syrian brothers. And I do say we have 620 problems with them.

He warned that the "Iraqi volcano will expand into the neighbors and no capital borders Iraq will be saved from it if it blows off."

He talked about the existence of 450 detainees in the Iraqi jails who "came from various Arab and Islamic states in order to be trained in Syria and then enter into Iraq in their booby trapped car carrying with them destruction, death and killing."

SANA reported that an official source condemned on Sunday Iraqi Defense Minister's statements broadcast by al-Jazeera satelliet tv today.

"Talk on booby-trapped cars entering Iraq through the Syrian border is baseless and comes as a part of an arranged political campaign against Syria and this doesn't serve Iraq's interests."

"Syria, which is connected to the sisterly Iraqi people by Arab fraternal ties and joint history, feels pain over the standing tragic situation in Iraq and finding herself a subject to fabricated lies aimed at harming the ties between the two sisterly peoples and countries," the source added.

The source repeated "Syria's desire to cooperate with Iraq to control borders between the two states, a matter that didn't meet the Iraqi hoped response until now, while campaigns of lies against Syria increase."