Syria Visits Aim for Improved U.S. Ties
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 (seen, at left, with Al-Assad).
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.
The attacks have raised fears that insurgent groups are embarking on a sustained attempt to kindle ethnic and sectarian warfare. These include the rift between Arab and Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq and the continued disenfranchisement felt by many Sunni Arabs who remain un-reconciled with the Shiite-led central government.
Syria vocally opposed the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, despite Damascus's long-running disputes with Saddam Hussein. The United States has accused Damascus of letting insurgents use Syrian territory to cross over into Iraq.
Syria rejects accusations that it is meddling in Iraq, suggesting that cutting down al Qaeda and stabilizing Iraq were both in Syria's national interest.
Diplomats say that President Obama's announcement of a clear timetable for withdrawal may provide Damascus with new incentives to cooperate more on Iraq.
Since being sworn in as president, Mr. Obama has cautiously sought to improve ties with Syria. A flurry of congressional visitors visited Damascus. A decision to return the U.S. ambassador to Damascus after four years has also been taken.
Part of the U.S. strategy in pursuing better relations with Syria is to weaken its ties to Iran, with which Washington is also seeking dialogue despite decades of isolation.
The Obama administration is eager to get indirect Syria-Israel talks back on track after they were suspended following Israel's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip that ended in mid-January.
Separately, Fredrick Hoff, a top adviser to Mitchell, was also expected in Damascus in a few days to probe whether time is ready to engage in serious peace talks with Israel.
Hoff, who advises Mitchell on Syria and Lebanon, authored an academic proposal earlier this year for solving the Golan dispute by turning much of the strategic plateau into a nature reserve that would be accessible to both Israelis and Syrians.
Turkey brokered four rounds of indirect talks between the two foes last year, the first such contacts since previous peace negotiations were broken off in 2000 over the fate of the Israeli-occupied land in the Golan Heights, along Syria's border.
But Syria froze the contacts at the turn of the year, when Israel launched a devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip, controlled since June 2007 by the Islamic militant movement Hamas. Hamas' exiled leader, Khaled Mashaal, lives in Damascus.