Syrian government says it won't receive Habib

The Syrian government has decided not to receive US special envoy Philip Habib. The official Syrian news agency SANA said it had nothing more to say about the Israeli-Lebanese troop withdrawal pact. Reports from Washington said Mr. Habib would return to Lebanon to resume his diplomatic efforts aimed at the complete withdrawal of Israeli, Syrian, and Palestinian troops. Political sources said Mr. Habib had hoped to meet with Syrian officials in a bid to soften their opposition to the agreement. The White House said that it regretted Syria's action, but that it would press forward to effect a withdrawal.

For its part, Israel warned it would ''widen the rate of its operations'' if Syria were to launch local attacks on Israeli soldiers.