Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, meets with  British Junior Foreign Minister Mike O'Brien for talks Monday, April 14, 2003 in Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/Sana)

DAMASCUS, Syria - The Syrian president met with British and Saudi envoys Monday, and the government denied charges by U.S. officials that Syria has weapons of mass destruction and is sheltering Iraqi leaders.  "Of course Syria has no chemical weapons. They (Americans) have been talking for years about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But so far, the presence of these weapons has not been confirmed," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Bouthayna Shaaban.  "There are biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East region. They are in Israel, not in Syria," she said in a telephone interview with Lebanon's Al-Hayat-LBC satellite channel late Sunday.

President Bush warned Syria on Sunday not to harbor Iraqi leaders and charged that Damascus has chemical weapons. 

"We expect cooperation, and I'm hopeful we'll receive cooperation," he told reporters in Washington. Bush stopped short of threatening Syria with military action but added: "People have got to know that we are serious about stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction." 

Syrian President Bashar Assad met Monday with British Junior Foreign Minister Mike O'Brien, who came to Damascus as part of a tour that would also take him to Iraq. 

A British Embassy official said O'Brien's visit was "part of ongoing dialogue between Syria and Britain," adding that Britain was interested in conducting consultations on post-Saddam Hussein Iraq with all the countries neighboring Iraq. 

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, speaking to reporters in Bahrain on Monday, said Syria was not the next coalition target after the war on Iraq but added that it needed to answer questions. 

In an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio, Straw said the United States and Britain would be looking for Syrian cooperation regarding "some fugitives from Iraq (who) may well have fled to Syria, and other matters, including whether they have in fact been developing any kind of illegal or illegitimate chemical or biological programs." 

Asked whether he believed the Syrians had weapons of mass destruction, Straw replied: "I'm not sure, and that's why we need to talk to them about it." 

Assad also met Monday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud. Syria's official news agency said they discussed "the situation in Iraq and efforts being exerted by neighboring countries to restore security and stability and to preserve the unity and integrity of the Iraqi territories." 

Assad talked about the latest Iraqi developments with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a telephone call on Sunday evening. 

Syria has denied that any members of the Iraqi leadership had fled to Syria and says it has closed its border with Iraq. 

U.S.-led forces captured one of Saddam's half brothers in northern Iraq and said he was planning to cross the border to Syria. Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohammed Al-Douri, arrived in Syria on Saturday, a day after leaving New York. 

Shaaban, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told al-Jazeera television that Syria wanted dialogue with the United States. 

"The problem is all the accusations against Syria come from Israel," she said. "Israel is the primary instigator to undermine Syrian-American relations."