Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad here discussed Arab efforts to preempt a US-led war on Iraq, the official MENA news agency reported.The two leaders also discussed "the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories and Israel's refusal to implement UN resolutions" demanding its withdrawal from Palestinian lands.
On Iraq, Mubarak and Assad noted at the start of their meeting "the growing international rejection of a US unilateral military action that would have negative consequences on the Middle East."

Assad arrived in Cairo earlier the same day together with Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam and Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara.

In Damascus, the foreign ministry's information department head, Boussaina Shaaban, said that Syria -- as a current member of the UN Security Council -- "has been trying to block a resolution providing for a strike" against Iraq.

"Syria has launched a real campaign in favor of Iraq," she told reporters.

She paid tribute to the "cautious and well-thought" position of Russia, France and China, which have voiced opposition to a war, and charged that Iraq was being targeted "to cover up Israel's crimes" against the Palestinians.

Israel's "occupation" of Arab land "is the real problem in in the Middle East," the Syrian official said. Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia "will do everything possible to avoid an attack on Iraq."

Arab states, including US allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are opposed to a US war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, fearing it could destabilise the whole region.

Mubarak last week visited Saudi Arabia to coordinate Arab action in the face of the US threats and he urged Iraq on September 26 to implement UN resolutions on disarmament so as to deprive Washington of any pretext for an attack.

PHOTO CAPTION

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak (R) meets his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, in Cairo on September 30, 2002. The two leaders will try to head off a U.S. attack on Iraq that Damascus calls unjustified and a smokescreen for Israel's bid to crush the Palestinian uprising. REUTERS/Mona Sharaf
- Sep 30 9:21 AM ET