The United States has demanded that Syria "dismantle" the militant Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was quoted as saying in an Israeli newspaper Friday.

"At every opportunity, we have asked Syria to stop supporting terrorism, dismantle Hezbollah, close the headquarters of terrorist groups in Damascus and end the threat posed to Israel from rockets in south Lebanon," Rice said, in remarks published in Hebrew in the Yediot Aharonot daily.

Rice was referring to the positions in south Lebanon held by the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, which led the resistance to Israel's 22-year occupation of the area which ended in May 2000.

Besides frequent violations of Lebanon's airspace by Israeli warplanes, which draw anti-aircraft fire from Hezbollah, the Lebanon-Israel border has been largely quiet for many months.

Rice's remarks come as US Secretary of State Colin Powell is due in Syria later Friday for talks in which he will press Damascus to address US concerns about support for "terrorist" groups as well as allegations it is pursuing chemical weapons.

Since US forces took Baghdad on April 9, Washington has turned up the heat on Damascus, also accusing it of hosting members of Saddam Hussein's deposed regime.

Syria has rejected the charges and called for dialogue with the United States - Sapa-AFP