"I have accurately advised that they not provide military assistance to Iraq," said Rumsfeld. "They seem to have made a conscious decision to ignore that.

"Senior regime people are moving out of Iraq into Syria and Syria is continuing to send things into Iraq. We find it notably unhelpful," he said, noting that Syria had been providing Iraq forces with equipment including night vision goggles.

Rumsfeld said intelligence pointed to Syria having been "cooperative in facilitating the movement of people out of Iraq into Syria."

"In some cases, they stay there, finding safe keeping there. In other cases, they're moving from Syria to still other places. We've also seen people from Syria moving into Iraq, unhelpfully," he added.

Meanwhile, in Rome, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said Syria should heed the lesson of the US-led conflict in Iraq.

"We are hopeful that a number of regimes will draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq. That the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction is not in their interest," he said.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for Syria to forswear the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and as with other governments of the region see if there are not new possibilities in the Middle East peace process."

Syria, although run by a rival branch of the Baath party, has strong ties with Iraq and appears on the US list of countries supporting terrorism. It also was one of the fiercest opponents of the US-led attack on Iraq in the UN Security Council.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell denied during a trip to Cairo this week that the US intended to invade Iran and Syria.

But he said: "Syria does pose a problem, because it supports terrorism and Iran is developing nuclear weapons."

Washington and Damascus have a history of animosity. In 1983, the United States, under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, had to withdraw troops deployed in Beirut after a suicide attack by pro-Iranian Shiites supported by Syria.

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