Syria's foreign minister has compared U.S. accusations that Damascus is sending weapons to Hezbollah to Washington's pre-war claims against Iraq. AP quoted Walid al-Moallem as saying it is U.S. weapons going to Israel that are destabilizing the region. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton asserted Thursday that Syria is transferring increasingly sophisticated rockets and other weaponry to militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza and that the shipments could spark a new conflict in the Middle East. Al-Moallem said the world should not forget what he called «the U.S. campaign of slander» before the Iraq war, referring to the incorrect U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. -- SPA
