Assad calls for unity among Arab nations

Source: Presstv.ir, 10-11-2008
Syria's president condemns the proposed US-Iraq deal, saying the presence of US troops in Iraq poses a threat to stability in the region.
On Sunday, Bashar al-Assad told a group of Arab parliamentarians, attended the Arab Interim Parliament meeting in Damascus, that a recent American deadly attack on Syrian soil near the Iraqi border confirms that the US is to use Iraq as a base to attack its neighbors.
The presence of the US occupation forces in Iraq is a threat to Iraq's neighbors and a factor of instability in the region, said the President, according to Samer Dadaa Press TV correspondent in Syria.
Assad expressed opposition to the US-sought security deal that would keep US troops in Iraq, saying the deal would the country into a military "base" to attack Iraq neighbors.
On October 26, US soldiers based in Iraq carried out an attack on a Syrian village near the Iraqi border, killing eight people including four children.
The US deadly raid on Syria came at a time of heightened controversy over the US proposed Baghdad-Washington security pact, namely the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which outlines the future of US troops in the oil-rich country after a UN mandate expires at the end of this year.