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07/03/2003 Press ReleaseSC/7682 NOTE: FOLLOWING ARE SUMMARIES OF STATEMENTS MADE TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING TODAY, 7 MARCH. A COMPLETE SUMMARY OF THE MEETING WILL APPEAR AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF THE MEETING AS PRESS RELEASE SC/7682. Background When the Security Council met this morning to consider the situation between Iraq and Kuwait, it had before it a note from the Secretary-General (document S/2003/232) transmitting the twelfth quarterly report of the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) in accordance with paragraph 12 of Security Council resolution 1284 (1999), covering UNMOVIC’s activities from 1 December 2002...

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said on Saturday U.S. accusations that Damascus had helped Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s Iraq (news - web sites) were baseless and challenged Washington to provide evidence. Senior figures in President Bush (news - web sites)'s administration have accused Syria in recent weeks of providing military help to Saddam. Shara said Syria was not taking seriously what he called "threats" from the Bush administration because "they do not represent the general view in the United States." "These (threats and accusations) are based on allegations that are baseless," Shara told a joint...