Iraq accused Israel Thursday of harboring biological, chemical and nuclear weapons -- turning the spotlight on the Jewish state at the main U.N. arms control body. Iraqi Ambassador Samir Al-Nima and Israel's Yaakov Levy also traded insults over their countries' leaders during speeches to the Geneva-based U.N. Conference on Disarmament. Syria and Algeria joined in the heated debate at the 66-member forum, while the U.S. delegation kept quiet during attacks on Israel, its close ally.

The dispute erupted after Levy appealed for a Middle East free of biological, chemical and nuclear arms and accused "certain countries" of seeking weapons of mass destruction and supplying "terrorist groups" with conventional arms and rockets.

But Iraqi envoy Al-Nima retorted: "The international community has not seen practical steps taken by Israel to disarm in the nuclear field.

"We all know Israel has nuclear arms and has signed the treaty banning chemical weapons, but nobody knows where their stocks are. We also know Israel has biological weapons, but nobody knows where those stocks are."

An Israeli Defense Ministry spokeswoman declined to comment on the Iraqi remarks. Israel is widely believed to have about 300 nuclear warheads but its policy is to never to discuss the issue.

Envoys from Syria and Algeria expressed regret that Israel had not opened its nuclear facilities to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency -- whose inspectors are scouring Iraq as the threat of a U.S.-led war looms.

Levy pointed out that Israel had been hit by 39 Iraqi Scud ballistic missiles during the 1991 Gulf War when a U.S.-led alliance drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

Israel, which backs U.S.-led military action to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, did not retaliate last time, but has vowed to do so in a future Gulf War if Iraq attacks it with non-conventional weapons or causes major damage.

"The Israeli envoy spoke of my country without naming it. But Israel is no longer hiding its aggressive ideas and intentions against my country and in fact is trying to incite this war against my country daily," Al-Nima said.

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