"There are some important questions for Syria to answer, which includes these questions of chemical weapons," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters at US Central Command's war base in Qatar.

"It's very important that Syria accepts the new reality and operates in a constructive, cooperative way with us and the United States and in particular deals with all these questions about whether they have taken in fugitives from the Saddam regime," he said.

Straw's remarks came after US officials issued a series of blunt warnings to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, accusing it of state terrorism, developing weapons of mass destruction and harbouring fugitive Iraqi officials, all charges Damascus strongly denies.

Top aides to President George W. Bush stopped well short of threatening military action against Syria, but said all options remained on the table and warned Damascus to take stock of the US-led rout of Saddam's regime.

Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Syria of economic and diplomatic sanctions if it did not heed US demands to mend its ways, while White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was blunter, branding Syria a "terrorist state".

And Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also weighed in, accusing Syria, which openly opposed the US-British war on Iraq, of carrying out a chemical weapons test "over the past 12, 15 months".

Britain's tone was a touch more conciliatory.

Straw, on a tour of the Gulf that has so far taken him to Kuwait and Bahrain, was asked if Britain shared the United States' view that Syria is a rogue state.

"We use different descriptions. Syria has an opportunity to prove it's not in that category," he said.

He insisted Syria was not on any list for pre-emptive US military treatment, saying: "There isn't a list and Syria isn't on it."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair had said Tuesday that there were "no plans whatever to invade Syria."

The London press on Tuesday wondered whether Blair's softer approach signalled a split between Britain and the United States.

"Syria: the fork in the road for Bush and Blair," headlined The Independent's editorial, adding underneath: "The dilemma over Syria is the same as in other parts of the Middle East in the post-September 11 world -- to confront or engage."

British and US warnings to Syria have alarmed many, with European Union foreign ministers calling on them to tone down their rhetoric.

"What we need now is to cool off the situation, not to increase the tension, we have enough tensions in the region ... not to create more," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana after talks in Luxembourg.

The Arab League and the Egyptian government have also condemned the US and British accusations. An advisor to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned the Americans against the temptation to "target one Arab country after another".

And in a veiled warning to the United States, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said pressure on Syria could destabilize the entire Middle East.

Straw insisted Tuesday that "there's an opportunity here for an important new beginning with Syria", if it were to cooperate with Britain and the United States.

But as the war in Iraq winds down, speculation grows across the world that Syria might be the next target for coalition troops.

SPACE.WIRE