DAMASCUS, Syria, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Syria said Friday it joined the 15-member Security Council members in approving a tough, new U.S.-British sponsored resolution after receiving international resolutions that it won't be used as a pretext for attacking Iraq or directing an automatic strike.
A Foreign Ministry statement said Syria worked alongside "friends in the Security Council to introduce vital amendments to the U.S.-British project resolution to block the road for those beating war drums" in Washington and London.
The statement said Syria received "international assurances from Security Council permanent members" that "this resolution will not be used as a pretext to hit Iraq, will not constitute the basis for directing an automatic strike and will not be interpreted as if some of its articles authorize anyone to use force."
It said "international contacts confirmed the central role of the Security Council in dealing with all phases of the Iraqi file within the framework of preserving Iraq's sovereignty and finding a comprehensive settlement to this (Iraq) issue that would lead to lifting the (U.N.-imposed) embargo."
The statement said Syria exerted intensive efforts during the past weeks to spare Iraq and the region "the dangerous consequences that might result of a military confrontation in the region."
Syria was thus convinced that voting in favor of the resolution "spare the region of the hidden intentions by directing a military strike against Iraq which would only benefit Israel and the enemies of the Arab nation," it said.
Syrian President Bashar Assad and French President Jacques Chirac discussed during a telephone contact the amendments introduced to the U.S.-British resolution "in such a way as to prevent using the resolution as a pretext to strike Iraq," according to the official Syrian News Agency (SANA).
The agency said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also telephoned Assad to express "the U.N. that Syria be part of the international consensus."
Annan confirmed that "all vague articles have been resolved" and said the "United States pledged to return to the Security Council again if the weapons inspectors face any difficulties."
He said the consensus on the resolution allowing the return of the international weapons inspectors "spare Iraq any harm," according to SANA.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa received a letter from U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell calling on Damascus to vote in favor of the resolution after the U.S. and Britain agreed to some matters raised by Syria and other Security Council members.
Powell told Sharaa that "the unanimous adoption of the resolution would help avoid a military confrontation later on" and noted that "if the U.S. wanted to use this resolution as a pretext to launch a war, it would not have responded to the worries of Security Council members."
Sharaa also consulted with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Arab-League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.
ds-lbt
