Syria denies country is route for al-Qaida

DAMASCUS, Syria, May 13 (UPI) -- Syrian officials are denying a news report that al-Qaida has resumed sneaking fighters into Iraq through Syria.

Officials said the published report in a U.S. newspaper that the smuggling resumed was false and indicated U.S. confusion about security matters in Iraq, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported Wednesday.

The official said the newspaper account coincided with an upswing in violence in Iraq and difficulties to control it, as well as improved relations between Syria and the United States, and Syria and Iraq.

The official told KUNA the diplomatic developments concerned Israel.