Shara, on arrival in Cairo earlier the same day, told reporters he was carrying a message from President Bashar al-Assad, but gave no details.

He was also to meet Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa to discuss "the threats against Syria," the situation in Iraq, and Syria's proposal for a UN resolution on mass destruction arms, according to Mussa.

On Wednesday, Syria introduced a draft resolution in the UN Security Council that would make the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction.

The United States has since last week repeatedly accused Syria of carrying out banned weapons programmes and of harboring officials of the fallen regime in Iraq.

Damascus has denied all the charges.

"The most eloquent answer to this is that Syria is prepared to turn the Middle East into a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction ... under UN supervision and to sign any treaty accordingly," Shara said Wednesday.

SPACE.WIRE