DAMASCUS, March 15 (AFP)  Washington has not demanded Kurdish assistance in a military campaign to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Kurdish chief Jalal Talabani told reporters in Damascus Friday.
"The United States has not discussed with us a strike if they have not asked our participation, said Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), whose party is firmly opposed to a US campaign to oust Saddam by force.

"We are in the dark. We do not know what the American plans are," said Talabani, whose party shares control of northern Iraq along with the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Talabani also categorically denied press reports that the United States had sent a military reconnaissance team into the Kurdish-controlled Iraqi north.

The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper said Tuesday more than 40 US military officers and experts recently spent around 10 days inspecting military positions in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, including two airports, "in the framework of the preparations for military operations".

Talabani arrived in the Syrian capital on Tuesday and has been meeting with Syrian officials to discuss the threat of a US attack on Iraq.

The Iraqi Kurds have controlled northern Iraq in defiance of Baghdad since the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait.