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Iraqi Minister Says Syria Hosting "Terrorists", Offers to Give Addresses

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Text of announcer-read report over video; broadcast by Qatari Al- Jazeera satellite TV on 18 July

Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr [Solagh] has announced that he has pictures and addresses of commanders of Syria-based Iraqi armed groups. Jabr made these statements on the sidelines of the meeting of interior ministers of Iraq's neighbouring states held in Istanbul, which he attended. Jabr regretted Damascus' failure to take serious measures to stop the infiltration of elements of these groups into Iraq, as well as its failure to take measures against the supporters of these groups who are based in Syrian territory, as he put it.

[Jabr - recording in English, with voice-over translation into Arabic] In my point of view, talking is not enough. We need real steps to find the terrorists and capture those whose names I have. When we give them some names, the Syrians say that the people carrying these names are not on Syrian territory. However, we know well that they are in Syria and I will inform Syrian officials of this when I meet them. I will tell them clearly that we are 100 per cent sure that these people are in this place and in that location; and I have their addresses and pictures, the pictures of these terrorists. [End recording]

Syria has expressed deep regret over the Iraqi interior minister's statements, saying that they conflict with what the two countries agreed on in Baghdad last month. A Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman affirmed that Damascus deployed a large number of its soldiers along the borders with Iraq and increased the number of observation posts there. It also called on diplomatic missions and media outlets to visit the borders and check the Syrian security measures enforced there. [Video shows meeting of the interior ministers of Iraq's neighbours; Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr is also shown making a statement]

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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