U.S CLASHES W/IRAN & SYRIA OVER TERROR DEFINITION

U.S CLASHES W/IRAN & SYRIA OVER TERROR DEFINITION

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 7 (UPI)—U.S. delegates at an anti-terrorism conference in Riyadh reportedly had a heated exchange with Iranians and Syrians over the definition of terrorism.

The incident took place late Saturday in a closed-door meeting, the Saudi Gazette reported Monday.

The newspaper quoted the BBC as saying that members of the five-man Iranian delegation engaged in a “heated exchange with the 20-member U.S. delegation,” when the topic of what constitutes a terrorist arose. Other sources said the Syrian delegation was also involved in the argument with the Americans.

The conference has purposely avoided defining terrorism in order to avoid confrontations that could delay the aim of the meeting: defining concrete ways of dealing with terrorism.

Earlier at a press conference Saudi Arabia’s minister of Islamic affairs, Sheikh Saleh Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh, said the conference would come out with a definition of terrorism. However, he later corrected himself by saying the issue would be avoided.

http://pulpnonfiction.blogspot.com