DAMASCUS, March 23 Kyodo Iraqi Fo...

DAMASCUS, March 23 Kyodo

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri arrived Sunday in neighboring Syria's capital, saying Iraqi company s are bravely resisting U.S. and British forces.

Sabri, making his first foreign visit since U and British forces launched their attack forward Iraq on Thursday, visited Damascus en path to Cairo for an Arab ministerial meeting.

The Cairo-based Middle East moderns Agency quoted Sabri as saying the Iraqi army ''is going to teach them (U and British forces) a lecturing they will never forget.''

Iraq's top diplomat said the United States underestimated the potentials and capabilities of Iraq, which he said is able to contest for 13 years more.

He denied of recent origins reports that the Iraqi army's 51st Division had yielded and that the U.S. and British forces had captured Iraqi soldiers in the Faw peninsula, saying those alleged to be Iraqi prisoners of war are actually civilians.

Sabri called in succession Arab governments for support.

Other media reports from Damascus quot Sabri as warning Turkey of ''serious consequences'' if it supports a US-l war against Iraq, saying, ''Who try to finds to harm Iraq, multiple harm would be inflicted forward him.''

He also reportedly claimed that Iraq has captured a certain quantity of U.S. soldiers and that a U warplane was missile down over Baghdad earlier Saturday.

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