Damascus "will only contribute, with its (Arab) brothers and the countries of the whole world to transforming the Middle East into a region devoid of all weapons of mass destruction, chemical, biological or nuclear," Shara said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Shara was responding to questions from reporters about whether Damascus would be ready to accept weapons inspections similar to those that took place in Iraq, but that were brought to an end by the US-led war.

Syria submitted Wednesday a draft resolution to the UN Security Council proposing to make the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), as a response to US accusations.

Syria's UN ambassador, Mikahil Wehbe, said Israel was the only state in the region not to have signed treaties on banned weapons.

The foreign minister repeated Syria's desire for dialogue with the United States, saying US Secretary of State Colin Powell was "welcome" to visit Damascus.

A US State Department official Wednesday said Powell may travel to Syria, though no date was scheduled yet.

The United States has also accused Damascus of smuggling war materiel into Iraq, and giving refuge to members of Iraq's ousted regime, charges Syria has repeatedly denied.

"Relations between Baghdad and Damascus have not been good for many years," Shara said. The Syrian and ousted Iraqi leadership belong to rival branches of the nationalist and socialist-inspired Baath party.

Syria was the only major Arab country to side with Iran in its eight-year war with Iraq.

Shara said the US accusations were a bid to divert attention from "the large difficulties and problems facing US forces in Iraq."

"The campaign (against Syria) could be aimed at serving Israeli interests," said Shara, who added that some "fundamentalists in Washington say that Iraq could be a starting point to modify the geography of the region."

The foreign minister rejected US demands on Damascus to stop lending support to Lebanon's Muslim extremist movement Hezbollah.

"The Israeli occupation must end, then there will be no need to maintain the resistance organizations," he said.

Shara also held talks with Arab League chief Amr Mussa, with whom he discussed ideas for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to focus on Iraq and "threats against Syria."

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