DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syria is "at the heart of events" in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday, hailing the Iraqi "resistance" days ahead of a conference on security in the war-torn country.

"To the east there is the resistance in Iraq, to the west there is the resistance in Lebanon and to the south there is the resistance of the Palestinian people," Assad was quoted as saying by the official SANA agency.

"We, in Syria, are at the heart of all these events," he said during a speech in eastern Syria.

Washington accuses the Syrian regime of allowing anti-US insurgents to cross from Syria into Iraq and of supporting terrorist groups in Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories. Syria denies the accusations.

"Syria, the Arab region and the Middle East are going through a dangerous period. Destructive colonial projects are seeking to divide and reshape our region," Assad said.

"Now, we see these projects failing, particularly that of the Greater Middle East," he said, referring to Washington's controversial 2004 plan to bring greater democracy to the region.

Nevertheless, Assad said, "we should not underestimate our enemies who are playing their last hand, that of sedition and division.... Every Syrian citizen supports the Iraqi people who are resisting" the American occupation.

The U.S. withdrew its ambassador from Damascus after linking Syria to the February 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, an outspoken opponent of Syrian dominance over Lebanon. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Monday said he was ready to meet U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the sidelines of the Iraq security conference which starts on Thursday in Egypt "if she wishes."