All Blog Posts from World Watch

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, hoped on Sunday his new round of talks in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad — their second in a month — would breathe new life into the faltering peace process, Washington's ultimate goal in the Middle East.

"I have just completed a very candid and positive conservation with President al-Assad," Mitchell said, reports CBS News' George Baghdadi in Damascus. "I discussed with him the prospects for moving forward on our goal of comprehensive peace in the region and improved bilateral relations between Syria and the United States."

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Writing from Damascus, CBS News' George Baghdadi reports that George Mitchell, the Obama administration's Middle East envoy, arrived in the Syrian capital Saturday night to encourage Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to support America's new broad-based, comprehensive peace drive in the Middle East.

It will be Mitchell's second visit to Syria since mid-June, as President Obama seeks to re-engage Damascus — a key regional player — to try and breathe new life into the faltering peace process. Mitchell has made five previous visits to the region.

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A top adviser to U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell said on Thursday the Obama administration is seeking to play a "balanced" role in its drive for peace in the Middle East.

Fred Hoff made his remarks, in a bid to test Syria's support for Washington's efforts, after lengthy talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in Damascus.

"Mr. Hoff underlined the United States' quest to work for achieving comprehensive peace in the region and its determination to play its effective and balanced role for resuming peace negotiations on all tracks," said an official statement.

Meanwhile, the Israelis said they were ready to resume direct talks with Damascus if it distances itself from Iran and armed Islamist groups in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories that are arrayed against the Jewish state.

Syria dismissed the Israeli demand, insisting that any new negotiations should include assurances that it will recover the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 war.

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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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Syria's top diplomat has accused his Israeli counterpart of sending "contradicting" messages on the Middle East peace process, expressing Damascus' frustration with what Syria considers a lack of willingness on the part of Israel's new government to make peace.

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A Lebanese flag flew over Beirut Monday, hoisted atop the first-ever Lebanese Embassy in Damascus.

There were no festivities to accompany the final, long-awaited step in the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the two countries for the first time in their 60 year history.

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Members of a high-profile European parliamentary delegation are urging their governments to engage in direct talks with Hamas and end the Islamic movement's international isolation. The push comes after a marathon meeting Saturday between the delegation and Hamas's political leader Khaled Mashaal, who is in exile in Damascus.

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Two U.S. lawmakers came out of talks with Syrian leaders on Saturday more hopeful Damascus would engage in dialogue with the new administration as Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad denounced what he called Washington's “dictation policy” of recent years.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., both agreed they see prospects for better relations with Syria, a country shunned under Bush.

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Senator John Kerry, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations committee, went into immediate talks on Saturday with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to encourage him to curb support for Islamist militant groups in return for a new policy of dialogue with the Obama Administration.

The Massachusetts Democrat, who is also set to meet with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and other officials, arrived in the Syrian capital for a two-day visit, the last leg of a five-stop regional tour that has taken him to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. He also paid a surprising visit to the isolated, battle-scarred Gaza Strip, the first in nearly a decade by a U.S. lawmaker since the second Palestinian uprising broke out.

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