SYRIA AGAIN DENIES HOLOCAUST

NICOSIA [MENL] -- The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad says theHolocaust never took place. The government daily Syria Times, an English-language publication meantfor the diplomatic community in Syria, wrote on Wednesday that the Nazisduring World War II did not operate gas chambers or kill Jews. The gaschambers, the daily wrote, "are only in the minds of Jewish terrorists likeYitzhak Shamir and Ovadia Yosef." Shamir was Israel's prime minister during the 1980s. Yosef is thespiritual leader of the Shas party. The Syria Times termed Yosef a "snake,"in reference to his remarks against Palestinians last month.