Damascus: A large meeting of Iraqi rebel groups that was due to be held in Damascus yesterday was cancelled at the behest of Syria, delegates said.

Hundreds of delegates, including members of the banned Iraqi Baath Party, officers in Saddam Hussain's now defunct security forces and anti-US tribal leaders, had gathered in Damascus to work out a joint programme for groups opposed to the continued presence of US forces in Iraq.

"The Syrians gently made it clear that this is not the time for this," a senior Baath Party member said.

"The Americans and their Iraqi government clients are intensifying their lies that Syria is behind terrorism and attacks on innocent Iraqis, which we all condemn."

He was speaking at a meeting to announce the cancellation of the conference at a hotel in the outskirts of Damascus. The decision did not go down well with most participants, especially those who had travelled from Iraq.

Some delegates linked the meeting's cancellation to the visit last week to Syria by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A communique issued after a meeting between Ahmadinejad and President Bashar Al Assad last week said the two leaders were adamant about the need to end US occupation but back the Iraqi government and "condemn terrorism against the Iraqi people and their institutions".

Thousands of Iraqi Baathists and former security figures have made Syria their base since the 2003 US invasion.

Reuters