U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that the United States could broaden the war against terorism to include attacks on other states that harbor terrorists, specifically Iraq but not Syria.

"The President has made very clear that the war on terrorism is a broad war on terrorism, " Rice said."You can't be for terrorism in one part of the world and against it in another part of the world. We worry about Saddam Hussein. We worry about his weapons of mass destruction that he's trying to achieve."

In an interview broadcast on the Doha-based Al Jazeera satellite channel, Rice said that the United States does not believe that Syria supports the Al Qaeda terror network but it does support other terrorist organizations.

"With Syria, we've been very clear that we do not believe that Syria can be against Al Qaeda, but in favor of other terrorist groups. But we have had some discussions with Syria. The President, in his speech to the Joint Session, said: those who continue to harbor terrorists. That's an invitation to countries to stop the practice of harboring terrorism," she said.

Rice said that the United States does not differentiate between support for different terrorist groups but that Syria would not be targeted at this point despite its support of the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups.

Earlier this month, the State Department reaffirmed a list of 28 foriegn terrorist groups linked to Osama Bin Laden, Hamas and Islamic Jihad and they continue to be subject to strict financial and visa restrictions.

"We have ruled out at this point issues that draw distinctions between types of terrorism. You can't say there are good terrorists and there are bad terrorists. But the means that we use with different countries to get them to stop harboring terrorists may be very broad. And there are many means at our disposal. Right now, our discussions with Syria suggest: get out of the business of sponsoring terrorism."

In Amman, a senior Jordanian official said Tuesday that Jordanian authorities helped Lebanese security authorities foil a terror attack against foreign embassies in Beirut, including the embassies of the United States and Britain and several Arab countries.

The Jordanian official said the Palestinian Uzbat El Ansar planned the attacks. Uzbat El Ansar has ties to Al Qaeda and is included on the State Department list of terror organizations.

A senior Lebanese official denied that Jordan had aided in foiling terror attacks. But judicial sources in Beirut confirmed that two Uzbat El Ansar members were recently arrested on suspicion of planning attacks. The two, Daniel Ahmed Samaraji, 22, and Bilal Ali Otman, 26, were arrested in Tripoli in north Lebanon. Samaraji told investigators that several terrorist groups are active in Tripoli and are planning attacks in the Middle East, the daily Beirut-based Al Nahar said.

In Washington, the United States criticized Israel for its policy of assassinations of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. On Monday, a Hamas leader, Ahmed Marshoud, was killed in Nablus when his car exploded after it was struck by a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter.

"It is the same position that we have said over and over again," U.S. State Department Phillip Reeker said. "And that is that we oppose a policy of targeted killings."

Reeker said the Bush Administration's policy of targeting Saudi billionaire bomber Osama Bin Laden and leaders of the ruling Taliban party cannot be compared to targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"I can't really draw a parallel between the two. Our position on the Israeli policy of targeted killings is well known, has not changed," Reeker said. "I don't have anything to add to what the President and the Secretary of State and everyone else have said about our campaign against terrorism. That includes Osama Bin Laden. That includes now the Taliban, who has given him safe harbor all this time, in contradiction to UN Security Council resolutions, even those that predate the tragic events of September 11th."

The U.S. continued to attack targets in Afghanistan on Monday, mainly in Kabul and Kandahar.

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