Rumsfeld raises stakes with warning to Syria over military sales to Iraq

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, delivered a stark warning to Syria yesterday, accusing it of failing to stop cross-border sales of military equipment, including night-vision goggles, to the Iraqi army.

Mr Rumsfeld called the shipments "hostile acts" and threatened to "hold the Syrian government accountable", but refused to say whether he meant military action.

He also struck out at Iran for letting state-sponsored anti-Saddam militants flood into Iraq, interfering in the coalition's war plans.

"We have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night-vision goggles," Mr Rumsfeld told a briefing at the Pentagon.

He said there was "no question... that military supplies or equipment or people are moving across the borders between Iraq and Syria; it vastly complicates our situation".

The US government "consider[s] such trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable for such shipments," he said.

The complaint echoed accusations last week from Washington that Russian companies had sold similar goggles, along with GPS jammers and anti-tank guided missiles, to Iraq.

When questioned, Mr Rumsfeld refused to say whether he was threatening war. "I'm saying exactly what I'm saying. It was carefully phrased," he said. He would not say if he believed the sales to be state-sponsored, calling the matter "an intelligence issue".

But "they control their border", he said of the Syrian government. "We're hoping that kind of thing doesn't happen."

An official at the Syrian foreign ministry dismissed the Mr Rumsfeld's accusations last night, saying they were "an attempt at covering what his troops have committed against civilians in Iraq... a violation of international law".

Syria, a staunch opponent of the war in Iraq, plays an important role in the neo-conservative "domino" theory, which exerts a strong influence on hawkish thinking in the Bush administration. Syria is commonly mentioned, along with Iran, as one of the first regimes that would be expected to crumble or reform radically as a result of the installation of a new government in Baghdad - or alternatively as a potential future target of US military force.

Last month John Bolton, the administration's undersecretary of state for arms control, was quoted as telling Israeli officials that it would be "necessary to deal with" Syria, Iran and North Korea after a war on Iraq.

Mr Rumsfeld said Iraqi Shia troops in the Badr corps, an opposition group backed by Iran for 20 years, had been crossing into Iraq.

"The Badr corps is trained, equipped and directed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard and we will hold the Iranian government responsible for their actions and will view Badr corps activity inside Iraq as unhelpful," he said.

Mr Rumsfeld's warning is sure to inflame Tehran which has so far adopted a restrained and even cooperative stance towards the conflict.