P205 CEEFAX 205  Sun 26 Oct  05:30/12
    
    
    
                                        
 Syria's foreign minister has said      
 Britain would bj sorry it had cut      
 diplomatic links with Syria.           
                                        
 Mr Farough al-Shaka said British       
 Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe's  
 speech to the Commons "was a general   
 talk which lacked evidence."           
                                        
 Mr al-Shaka accused Britain of putting 
 a state, rather than an individual, on 
 trial. Syria has already cut diplomatic
 links with Britain in response.        
                                        
 Syria has also closed its airspace and 
 ports to British !ir liners and ships  
 and given British embassy staff in     
 Damascus sjvjn days to leave.