U.S. Marines look for pockets of resistance Monday in Tikrit.

A Pentagon spokesman said on Monday that "some sharp fights" are still expected in some parts of Iraq. However, Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal added that major combat operations have ended in the Gulf nation because there is little organization left in Iraqi military units. With the major battles apparently over in Iraq, the White House says its next step is to bring democracy to the Gulf nation.

U.S. troops said on Monday that they discovered 11 chemical and biological laboratories buried in the ground. The mobile units were found near an ammunition plant at Karbala, a city south of Baghdad. However, Brig. Gen. Benjamin Freakley said that no chemical or biological weapons were found along with the laboratories.

Freakley said that "more than a million dollars worth of chemical capability" were found at the site. He added that even though the laboratories were buried, the equipment was "clearly marked so that [it] could be found again."

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The U.S. and Britain have long accused Iraq of building chemical weapons. Iraq has repeatedly denied doing so. To date, coalition forces have not found weapons of mass destruction in the Gulf country.

With most of Iraq under the control of coalition forces, the White House has ratcheted up pressure on Syria, which borders western Iraq. Washington accuses Syria of allowing retreating Iraqi officials to hide there.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said that Syria has "no reason to harbor these Iraqi officials; they should not be able to find safe haven in Syria."

The U.S. State Department accuses Syria of supporting terrorism. And Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says that Syria has experimented with weapons of mass destruction "over the past 12 to 15 months."

The Syrian foreign minister responded by calling the U.S. accusations baseless. Farouk al-Sharaa said, "What are the clues, the evidence that you have got? [U.S. officials] don't bring any evidence."

In the U.S., the family of a former American prisoner of war (POW) expressed joy at the news that chief warrant officer Ronald Young was on his way home. Young was one of two Apache helicopter pilots captured on March 24 after his chopper was targeted by small arms fire. He and his fellow pilot were among seven POWs rescued earlier this week by U.S. troops.

"It's just been a great, great thing to see our son come out of this situation," said Ronald Young, Sr., the pilot's father. He added that his son and the other former prisoners would be taken from Kuwait directly to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.