SYRIA

Newsday: Assad Doubts Existence of al-Qaida
KUWAIT CITY -- Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview published Sunday that he doubts the existence of al-Qaida, the terror group blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks and recent strikes in Saudi Arabia and Morocco.
"Is there really an entity called al-Qaida? Was it in Afghanistan? Does it exist now?" Assad asked, according to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anba