In his first major interview since taking office in September, the Syrian prime minister told the Egyptian magazine Al-Mussawar the Iraqi fight against the U.S.-led ccupation was a "liberation movement”.

Despite all accusations that they are terrorists, these are Iraqi citizens who are fighting the occupation," al-Otari said.

The prime minister also warned Israel that if it attacks Syria again, as it did in an air strike on a Palestinian Islamic Jihad camp last month, the response would be "painful."

Last week, the U.S. Congress passed the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, which enables the president to impose various sanctions on Syria unless it ceases to support alleged terrorists, stops the flow of fighters into Iraq, and ends its 27-year military presence in Lebanon.

Al-Otari said the sanctions that could be invoked under the act are "very modest" because Syria has minimal economic ties with America.

The prime minister indicated he saw the bill as part of the pressure that Syria has encountered because of its staunch opposition to the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and its different definition of terrorism to that of Washington.

The U.S. State Department has long listed Syria as a sponsor of terrorism owing to its support for militant Palestinian groups. Syria categorizes these Palestinians as freedom fighters. In the interview, al-Otari said Syria would continue to give "moral support" to the Palestinians.

Al-Otari said the goal of the United States was to obtain "Syria's help in implementing its plans in Iraq."

"America wants Syria to take a position that will endorse the American presence in Iraq, which is inconceivable because it contradicts with the basic national tenets of Syria," he said.

Syria's policy on Iraq, he said, meant "rejecting the American presence in Iraq,supporting the Iraqi people, and offering them all the requirements they need to protect the land and people of Iraq."

Syria says it does not permit people to infiltrate Iraq with the purpose of fighting the U.S. forces, but it cannot maintain absolute control over the long desert border between the two countries.

Al-Otari said he had no fear that America might move against the Syrian government now that it had toppled the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The United States is embroiled in "its bitter experience in Iraq" and has presidential elections to consider next year. But he feared that Israel might do Washington's bidding. "If the situation between us and Israel exploded, I don't think it would be in America's interests," he said.

Israeli aircraft blasted a base of the Islamic Jihad group near Damascus on Oct. 5, a day after the group had carried out a suicide bombing in the northern city of Haifa. Earlier this month, Israeli military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, indicated his forces might attack Syria again if it does not stop backing militant Palestinians.

"We are not planning for any conflict" with Israel, al-Otari said. "On the contrary, we have adopted a policy of dialogue, and we hope to reach the results we aim for. But if Israel repeats their aggression, they will find the response painful - and they know it."

Al-Otari, 59, an architect and town planner by training, is a former regional administrator and a long time member of the ruling Baath party.