Using an English phrase

Syria scoffs at Clinton's 'wishful thinking'

Syria: Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Sunday dismissed as "wishful thinking" a warning by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that his country risked descending into civil war.

"Whoever reads carefully remarks made by Mrs Clinton and Mr Ahmet Davutoglu and others feels that they are pushing for that (civil war)," Muallem told a news conference in Damascus.

"When Mrs Clinton says the opposition is well-armed ... it is, as they say in English, 'wishful thinking'," he said.

Clinton and her Turkish counterpart Davutoglu have warned of a real risk of civil war in Syria following an attack Wednesday on an intelligence military base by mutinous troops calling themselves the Free Syria Army.

Muallem also dismissed as "totally unfounded" reports that the offices of the ruling Baath party in Damascus had been hit by several rocket-propelled grenades on Sunday.

The reports came from rights groups and activists, but an AFP reporter who went to the area found no trace of an attack while local residents denied there had been explosions.

Monday, AFP