"We don't have weapons of mass destruction," Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Rostom al-Zoubi said, describing the US charges as "baseless".

"It is Israel which has a big arsenal of weapons of mass destruction," the envoy told CNN.

"Why focus on Syria at this time, forgetting Israel. This is ... double standards."

As the US-led war on Iraq draws to a close, the administration of US President George W. Bush has turned its attention to Syria, accusing it of state terrorism, developing weapons of mass destruction and harbouring fugitive officials from neighbouring Iraq.

Top Bush aides have stopped 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 Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Syria's ambassador to Spain described the US accusations that Syria had harboured terrorists as an "insult" and accused Washington of "blackmail".

"It's an insult to my country, an insult to a country that is a member of the UN Security Council and an insult to a peaceful country that is struggling and working for a lasting peace in the Middle East," the ambassador, Mohsen Bilal, told Spain's Cadena Ser radio.

"We reject this accusation categorically because it is baseless," he said. "They are blackmailing our country."

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