In an interview published in Lebanese daily As-Safir, Assad also predicted that, if the United States and Britain were to take over Iraq, they would be confronted by a "popular resistance" that would prevent them from controlling the country.

Syria, the only Arab member of the UN Security Council, voted for Resolution 1441, which paved the way for the resumption of weapons inspections in Iraq. It said it did so on assurances that this would avoid a war.

But as war approached, it joined China, France, Germany and Russia in preventing a new resolution specifically authorising an attack on Iraq.

Assad, never known for his diplomatic language, publicly predicted that Washington would become bogged down in Iraq as it was in Vietnam, or forced to abandon the country as it did in the 1980s in Lebanon, now under Syrian dominance.

His words made analysts wonder precisely what Syria's intentions are, especially since the interview was published the same day as a call by the country's mufti for suicide attacks against US forces.

But while those intentions were being debated, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke ominously of what he said were concrete actions.

He told a press briefing that the country was shipping military supplies to Iraq, and termed this a "hostile" act.

"We have information of shipments of military supplies crossing the border from Syria into Iraq," Rumsfeld told journalists at the Pentagon, adding that the equipment included night vision goggles.

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

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.

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

Syria hit back later Friday, ridiculing the charges.

"Donald Rumsfeld is trying to justify the failure experienced by his troops in Iraq as the result of weather conditions and others by accusing other parties of having passed military equipment to Iraq," a foreign ministry spokesman told the official Sana news agency.

As for the call for suicide attacks, by Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro, they must necessarily have had the approval of Assad's regime, and echoed a warning by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanon's Syrian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah movement, that such attacks might be expected.

Although Syria is not included in US President George W. Bush's "axis of evil", which groups Iran, Iraq and North Korea, it is still on the State Department's list of countries supporting terrorism.

And like Iran, it fears that it may be the next US target after Iraq in Washington's "war on terrorism."

"America wants to remodel the region to its own liking," Assad alleged, repeating the common Damascus line that Washington is acting in the interests of its ally, Israel, and implicitly stressing that his government will have no part in it.

Syria is determined to see the return of the Golan Heights captured by Israel in 1967 and its continued influence over Lebanon, not to mention the lasting grip on power by the ruling Baath party, analysts said.

But one analyst, who did not wish to be named, said it was unclear yet whether Damascus would try to do a deal with Washington, or back guerrilla groups that might emerge to fight the US presence in Iraq.

Assad accused the United States of responsibility for the present "unstable" relations between the two countries, citing Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement to a House of Representatives committee on March 14 that Syria was "occupying" Lebanon.

Assad's remarks, however, prompted the Lebanese press to recall an old Arab saying from 50 years ago: "No war without Egypt, no peace without Syria."

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