All Blog Posts from World Watch

This story was filed by CBS News' George Baghdadi in Damascus.

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdullaziz vowed Thursday after two days of ground-breaking talks in Damascus to open a new chapter in bilateral relations after years of enmity.

The Saudi king's two-day visit to Damascus was the first of its kind since 2005, and the sweetening in the relationship could have significant repercussions for the region.

Washington is hoping to engage Syria in a new round of peace talks with Israel. The Obama administration and its Arab allies hope to diminish the influence of Iranian-backed groups Hezbollah and Hamas in regional affairs. Syria wields significant influence over these militant organizations, which are classified by Washington as terrorist groups.

The changing dynamic could also help to stabilize Iraq, which borders both countries, and to end a political stalemate in Lebanon — where both Riyadh and Damascus have great influence, but have for years been on opposite sides of the fence.

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday that Damascus would do whatever it takes to help uphold security in the neighboring country, only a few days after a high-profile U.S. military delegation visited the Syrian capital to discuss curbing the infiltration of foreign fighters across the border.

The United States and some Iraqi officials have repeatedly accused Damascus of allowing Islamist elements - mainly al-Qaeda militants - to sneak through its porous frontiers.

Maliki’s visit is his second to the Syrian capital - where he lived as a refugee during the Saddam Hussein regime - since becoming prime minister in April 2006. Iraq and Syria, which share borders, have experienced turbulent relations over the years. However, in November 2006, the two countries restored full diplomatic ties.

"Assad reiterated Syria's support of Iraq in all matters that help bolster its security and stability and preserve its integrity of land and people, affirming that Syria also supports the efforts of the national reconciliation governments for ensuring the success of the political process," an official English statement said after Tuesday's talks.

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A delegation of U.S. military commanders arrives in Damascus on Wednesday to discuss with Syrian officials greater cooperation in preventing the flow of al Qaeda militants and other foreign fighters into Iraq through Syrian soil, Western diplomats said.

They said the visit, the second by the U.S. Central Command in a few months, crowned lengthy talks last month between Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the Obama administration's Middle East envoy George Mitchell.

The Pentagon’s efforts overlap with a string of bombings in northern Iraq and Baghdad that had killed at least 112 people in the last several days, the worst since U.S. troops handed over security in urban areas to Iraqi security forces on June 30.

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George Mitchell, the Obama administration's Middle East envoy, arrives in Damascus on Saturday to see if he can garner Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's support for America's new broad-based, comprehensive peace drive in the region.

Mitchell, an architect of the Northern Ireland peace agreement, is also to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend, where he'll try to kick-start peace talks with the Palestinians and discuss the recent spat between Israel and Washington over continued Israeli construction in east Jerusalem.

Diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus tell CBS News Mitchell is expected in the Syrian capital Saturday night and that he will start his official meetings Sunday morning.

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Syria's first lady has put out the welcome mat for the Obamas, a further sign that the once frosty relations between the two nations is thawing.

In an interview with Britain's Sky News, Asma al Assad envisioned her husband, Bashar, and Barack Obama joining forces.

"The fact is President Obama is young," al Assad said, "and President Assad is also very young as well, so maybe it is time for these young leaders to make a difference in the world."

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Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad blasted Israel on Wednesday for being an untrue "partner" in the process of peacemaking in the Middle East, saying the Jewish state should relinquish the lands it occupied if it was seeking to strike a deal with Damascus.

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U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell, the highest-ranking administration official to visit Damascus since 2005, said on Saturday that Washington was seeking Damascus' help in securing a lasting peace in the Middle East.

A week after U.S. President Barack Obama pledged in his Cairo speech to pursue a broad-based, comprehensive peace agreement in the region, Mitchell arrived in Syria from Lebanon to see if the time is right.

The two-day visit is the most concrete sign yet of rapprochement between Washington and Damascus — a radical departure from the Bush administration.

The Syrian leader, a Presidential statement said, "explained Syria's firm position in seeking to achieve a just and comprehensive peace on the basis of international resolutions and formulas."

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad praised President Obama's ardor for dialogue and told two U.S. lawmakers his country is hoping for better relations with Washington.

Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Rep. Tim Walz D-Minn., arrived in Damascus Thursday in a first visit by a U.S. delegation since the U.S. voted to renew sanctions against this Mediterranean country earlier this month — an act Damascus has dismissed as "routine".

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"The failure of the peace process so far has clearly shown that Israel is the major obstacle to peace. How can a state that was founded on illegal occupation and continues to murder the original inhabitants work toward peace?" Syrian President Bashar al-Assadwondered in an opening address to a ministerial meeting of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference in Damascus.

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President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday defended his alliance with Iran as "strategic," only a couple of days ahead of a visit by two high-level U.S. officials to Damascus in their bids to weaken the long-time bond.

The Syrian leader told reporters following his talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that both countries’ vision over the past years was "correct."

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