U.S. Urges Syria to Give Back Military Vehicles : Gulf War: Saudis supplied American-made ordnance. Bush denies his Administration authorized transfer.

The Bush Administration is employing diplomatic pressure to urge Syria to return American-made military vehicles its forces took from Saudi Arabia at the end of the Gulf War, senior U.S. officials said Saturday.

The officials confirmed a Los Angeles Times report that both Syria and Bangladesh had taken possession of the vehicles after being permitted by Saudi Arabia to use them as part of the U.S.-led coalition against Iraq.

But they insisted that the Administration had not acquiesced in the arrangement and had protested the Syrian action. They also said that the vehicles were trucks and were not subject to a U.S. law prohibiting the transfer of weapons to third parties.

The officials, who insisted on anonymity, provided an account of the incident in response to The Times report. President Bush denied separately that his Administration had authorized the transfers from Saudi Arabia to Syria and Bangladesh.

“No,” Bush said during a walk on the beach as he was asked whether the United States allowed the secret shipments. “No. The answer to your question is no.”

Bush did not permit further questions and was not asked about a separate aspect of the story reporting that in 1986 the Ronald Reagan Administration permitted Saudi Arabia to transfer a shipment of American-made bombs to Iraq.

Administration officials accompanying Bush during an Easter weekend stay here declined comment on that report, except to say that the State Department was looking into the allegation.

In acknowledging that Syria and Bangladesh had taken possession of the U.S. vehicles, the officials provided the first confirmation of the way in which military equipment provided by the United States to Saudi Arabia had reached other destinations in the Arab and Islamic world.

But they said the Administration had since advised both countries that it did not approve of their actions and had protested the Syrian action through diplomatic channels.

“We have let them know they should give them back,” one senior official said. “We are trying to get them back to Saudi Arabia.”

Informed sources, citing classified U.S. intelligence reports, had described the vehicles as armored personnel carriers and other combat vehicles, and characterized the transfers as a violation of the Arms Export Control Act.

But Administration officials here sought to minimize their significance, describing the vehicles as “cargo trucks” not subject to the prohibition.

“We have complied fully with the Arms Export Control Act at all times,” a White House official said.

In an account that would contradict that explanation, a high-ranking diplomatic source said last week that Bangladesh had requested spare parts earlier this year not for trucks but for U.S.-made armored personnel carriers. Administration officials here said they had no information about that request.

Apart from responding to the single question about the report, Bush declined to answer other substantive queries during his hourlong “power walk” on Goose Rocks Beach, which he declared “a totally news-free beach.”

But he maintained a rapid and informal banter with his companions--golf pro Ken Raynor and about a dozen reporters and photographers.

He joked that evangelist Billy Graham had given him new insight about North Korea after a recent visit there. “He said there are very few cars, but everyone is compelled to aerobic walk by their noble leader,” Bush said of his report from Graham.

Bush, 67, confided at one point during the four-mile walk that he had been experiencing some pain in his right hip after strenuous exercise and was worried that it might eventually have to be replaced.

“I know tonight, about 2 in the morning, I’ll feel this right hip,” he said.

He said he takes a mild prescription anti-inflammatory drug, Naprosyn, to ease the discomfort and said his doctor had assured him that he would not need surgery “for a long time.”

On his first visit here since an ocean storm battered the family’s Walkers Point home last fall, Bush made clear that his weekend was becoming more a clean-up party than a vacation.

With the house only partially repaired, Bush joked that his goal for the afternoon was “to avoid Barbara Bush’s strike zone. . . . I mean, she puts you to work, moving furniture.”