The United States is increasing its pressure against Syria to force the Arab state to stop backing anti-Israeli resistance in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, Syria's information minister said Saturday.

Mahdi Dakhlallah also told the Al-Jazeera television network that President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are battling each other to prove who is the closer ally of Israel leading up to the Nov. 2 American presidential elections.

The United States and United Nations have called on Syria to remove its troops from neighboring Lebanon. Washington has also accused Damascus of not doing enough to stop anti-coalition fighters from entering another Arab neighbor, Iraq, and supporting anti-Israeli militants, like Lebanon's Hezbollah.

"Washington wants Damascus to change its stance toward the Lebanese resistance, the Palestinian question and the just and comprehensive peace, which means ending (Israeli) occupation" of all lands captured during the 1967 Mideast war, said Dakhlallah.

The Syrian official criticized the Sept. 2 U.S.-backed U.N. Security Council resolution that called on Syria to withdraw it troops from Lebanon and disband all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, saying Lebanese resistance will stop when Israeli occupation ends.

Israel withdrew its troops from Lebanon in May 2000 but Lebanon and Syria say it is still occupying the Chebaa Farms, an area of land captured by Israel from Syria in 1967. Israel and the United Nations say the land is Syrian and the United Nations says Syria and Israel should negotiate its fate.

On Iraq, Dakhlallah said if a "superpower" like the United States was unable to secure Iraq and its borders, "How can Syria do this?"

Recent Syrian efforts to tighten its 380-mile border with Iraq last week received praise from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

On the U.S. presidential race, the Syrian official accused Bush and Kerry of trying to win Israel's favor, saying they "are racing to please Israel in their campaigns as if it is the only sign that makes this candidate or that one succeed in the elections."

Bush and Kerry share similarities in their stance on Israel. Both candidates have praised Israel's democracy and ties to the United States. Neither opposes Israel's plans for a security barrier in the West Bank and both have assailed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.  (AP)