Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar called Assad before an EU summit from Athens overnight Tuesday and the two spoke for about 30 minutes.

The telephone conversation came a day after Aznar said Syria would not be the target of any military action over US accusations it possesses chemical weapons and is harbouring Iraqi leaders.

Sources in Madrid said Assad was ready to cooperate and committed to fighting terrorism and had expressed his determination to preserve stability in the Middle East.

The Spanish prime minister announced during a visit to Poland Tuesday that he had "already discussed (the situation) with the Syrian president with whom (his) contacts are very warm" and that he was going to talk to him about the US allegations as soon as possible.

The two leaders were planning to maintain their contacts over the next days as Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio readies to travel to Damascus.

Spanish government officials said earlier US President George W. Bush had urged Aznar on Monday to pressure Syria not to admit fugitive members of the Iraqi regime.

Syria has strongly denied allegations it was aiding the remnants of Saddam's government or developing its own weapons of mass destruction.

Aznar, a staunch supporter of Bush's hardline stance on Iraq, has acknowledged that "in certain quarters" there was a will for open war with Syria.

"They are possibly forces who cannot live without conflict. Simply, some feel the need for such a conflict. But that is not our case," he had said in Warsaw Tuesday.

In a separate development, seven Iraqi embassy officials in Madrid left Spain for Amman via Vienna on Wednesday, three days after they were declared personae non gratae after weapons were found at the embassy.

The seven traveled in the company of their families and children as plainclothes police watched. They refused to speak to journalists.

The embassy's commercial attache Abdelaziz Hussein had told Spanish authorities after the fall of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein last week that weapons were being hidden inside the building. Hussein was not among those who left Spain Wednesday.

SPACE.WIRE