"We have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night vision goggles," he said at a Pentagon news conference.

"These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces. We consider such trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable for such shipments," he said.

He declined to say whether the Syrian government was behind the shipments, but stressed: "They control their border. We're hopeful that kind of thing does not happen again," he said.

"There is no question but that to the extent military supplies, equipment or people move borders beteween Iraq and Syia that it vastly complicates our situation," he said.

He also said that hundreds of Iranian-backed Iraqi rebels had been seen coming into Iraq, in reference to the Badr Corps, the military wing of the Supreme Council on Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the main Iran-based Iraqi opposition movement.

"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," said Rumsfeld.

"Armed Badr Corps members found in Iraq will have to be treated as combattants," he said.

"We don't want neighboring countries or anyone else for that matter to be in there assisting Iraqi forces," Rumsfeld said.

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