By Charles Fromm and Jim Lobe
"WASHINGTON, Feb 18, 2010 (IPS) - After months of delay, the administration of President Barack Obama is taking major steps engage the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of a broader regional strategy designed in major part to isolate Iran, escalate the fight against al Qaeda and other radical Sunni groups, and encourage peace talks with Israel.....
Burns also announced that the State Department's top counterterrorism official, Amb. Daniel Benjamin, would stay on in Damascus for additional discussions with top Syrian officials presumably focused on fully restoring intelligence and related cooperation that was halted under Bush.
Limited cooperation, especially relating to Syrian help in preventing its border with Iraq from serving as an infiltration and supply route for Sunni or Baathist fighters, has resumed over the past year, largely at the initiative of the chief of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus, who had been barred by the previous administration from visiting Damascus.
But Washington now hopes to expand that cooperation both with respect to Iraq and to the larger region as well, given the Assad regime's long experience in combating Sunni extremism......
The prospect of reviving what some have called the "Syria First" option may help persuade Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to drop his demand that Israel freeze all settlement activity on the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as a precondition for Israeli-Palestinian talks, according to some analysts here.
But the fact that the moves of the last two days come amid a major diplomatic campaign directed against Iran suggests that Washington's top priority is to test the degree to which Damascus may be willing to loosen its alliance with Tehran in the interests of improving ties with Washington which, among other things, is also seen as critical to Syria's hopes of recovering the Golan Heights from Israel....
Indeed, in a recent interview with the New Yorker's legendary investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, Assad expressed great scepticism that about the administration's ability to accommodate even minimal Syrian requirements.
"Maybe I am optimistic about about Obama, but that does not mean that I am optimistic about other (U.S.) institutions that play negative or paralysing role(s)...," he said, noting the role of Congress, where pro-Israel forces are especially strong, in particular.
"(T)he whole atmosphere is not positive towards the president in general," he said. "And that is why I think his envoys cannot succeed."
He also rejected Washington's current strategy of seeking greater international support for economic sanctions on Iran to persuade it to curb its nuclear programme......"
"WASHINGTON, Feb 18, 2010 (IPS) - After months of delay, the administration of President Barack Obama is taking major steps engage the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of a broader regional strategy designed in major part to isolate Iran, escalate the fight against al Qaeda and other radical Sunni groups, and encourage peace talks with Israel.....
Burns also announced that the State Department's top counterterrorism official, Amb. Daniel Benjamin, would stay on in Damascus for additional discussions with top Syrian officials presumably focused on fully restoring intelligence and related cooperation that was halted under Bush.
Limited cooperation, especially relating to Syrian help in preventing its border with Iraq from serving as an infiltration and supply route for Sunni or Baathist fighters, has resumed over the past year, largely at the initiative of the chief of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus, who had been barred by the previous administration from visiting Damascus.
But Washington now hopes to expand that cooperation both with respect to Iraq and to the larger region as well, given the Assad regime's long experience in combating Sunni extremism......
The prospect of reviving what some have called the "Syria First" option may help persuade Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to drop his demand that Israel freeze all settlement activity on the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as a precondition for Israeli-Palestinian talks, according to some analysts here.
But the fact that the moves of the last two days come amid a major diplomatic campaign directed against Iran suggests that Washington's top priority is to test the degree to which Damascus may be willing to loosen its alliance with Tehran in the interests of improving ties with Washington which, among other things, is also seen as critical to Syria's hopes of recovering the Golan Heights from Israel....
Indeed, in a recent interview with the New Yorker's legendary investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, Assad expressed great scepticism that about the administration's ability to accommodate even minimal Syrian requirements.
"Maybe I am optimistic about about Obama, but that does not mean that I am optimistic about other (U.S.) institutions that play negative or paralysing role(s)...," he said, noting the role of Congress, where pro-Israel forces are especially strong, in particular.
"(T)he whole atmosphere is not positive towards the president in general," he said. "And that is why I think his envoys cannot succeed."
He also rejected Washington's current strategy of seeking greater international support for economic sanctions on Iran to persuade it to curb its nuclear programme......"
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