Syria rejects Mideast cease-fire plan

BEIRUT, Lebanon --Syria's foreign minister declared Sunday that a U.S.-French cease-fire plan was "a recipe for the continuation of the war," between Israeli and Hezbollah, which he said the Jewish state cannot win.

As he spoke, Israeli warplanes struck a few miles away in the Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Walid Moallem, on his first visit to Lebanon since Damascus ended a 29-year military presence in its smaller neighbor last year, said only a complete Israeli pullout would entice Hezbollah guerrillas to stop fighting.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa landed in Beirut and told reporters at the airport that he came to consult with the Lebanese government on "ways to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon."

Moussa, who met earlier in the day in Syria with its president, Bashar Assad, will take part in an Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Beirut Monday.

Moallem, the former Syrian envoy to Washington, said his nation's armed forces were under orders to respond immediately to an Israeli assault.

"If Israel attacks Syria by any mean, on the ground, by air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately," he said after emerging from a meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

Israel has issued repeated pledges not to attack Syria.

After meeting the speaker of Lebanon's parliament, Moallem said "whoever believes they can liquidate Hezbollah with their huge military ... is under an illusion."

"The war ends with an immediate and unconditional cease fire, a full Israeli withdrawal to the border and the return of refugees to their homes," he said.

Moallem reached Beirut by road, crossing into Lebanon at a northern border point, the National News Agency reported. He met with his Lebanese counterpart, Fawzi Salloukh, in the northern port city of Tripoli and said during that stop that "Syria is ready for the possibility of a regional war if the Israeli aggression continues."

Moallem said the U.S.-French draft resolution had "adopted Israel's point of view only," and, underlining his support for Hezbollah, said that "as Syria's foreign minister I hope to be a soldier in the resistance."

Moallem's visit comes amid strained relations between Lebanon and Syria resulting from the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A U.N. investigation has implicated several Syrian officials in the murder.

Syria denied any involvement in the Hariri assassination, which led to an international isolation of Damascus.

Prompted by the crisis that followed Hariri's assassination, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April 2005, ending a 29-year military presence.