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 UN weapons inspections similar to those that took place in Iraq, but were brought to an end by the US-led war.

Following talks with Arab League chief Amr Mussa, he said "we will not authorize anything illegal ... we respect the UN charter and will not abandon our independence or dignity."

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, while its UN ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said Israel was the only state in the region not to have signed treaties on banned weapons.

Two days before, Washington had accused Syria of conducting a chemical weapons test during the past 15 months, and US Secretary of State Colin Powell said officials would examine possible economic and diplomatic sanctions against Damascus.

However a State Department official in Washington said Wednesday that Powell may travel to Syria to defuse the tension between them.

While rejecting the accusations, Shara adopted a moderate tone and repeated Syria's desire for dialogue with the United States, saying Powell was "welcome" to visit Damascus.

"I think dialogue between the two countries is of common interest," he said.

Bussaina Shaaban, director of the foreign ministry's information department, said later in an interview with Radio Monte Carlo that Powell's visit could take place in the second half of next week.

"We are in disagreement on certain points and in agreement on others, but that does not prevent in any way the pursuit of dialogue", she said.

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.

Syria was the only major Arab country to side with Iran in its 1980-1988 war with Iraq. The Syrian and deposed Iraqi leadership belong to rival branches of the nationalist and socialist-inspired Baath party.

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.

Asked about the possibility of the US vetoing the draft resolution, Shara said, "it is foreseeable. We don't exclude use of the veto, given the strategic ties between Israel and the United States."

Shara discussed with Mussa ideas for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to focus on Iraq and "threats against Syria."

ma-lr-ms/srj/mb

SPACE.WIRE