U.S. Delegation Headed Back To Syria
This story was filed by CBS News' George Baghdadi, reporting from Damascus.
A high-level U.S. delegation will visit Syria this week — for the second time in just two months — to discuss how best to seal the Mideast state's border with Iraq, and how to stoke faltering peace talks between Syria and Israel.
The Obama administration's continuing outreach to Damascus comes just a few days after the release in Beirut of four Lebanese generals detained in connection with the 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The release, ordered by a United Nations court, was welcomed with joy and celebration by militant group Hezbollah and Syria's political allies inside Lebanon.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Lebanon last week and laid a wreath at Hariri's tomb. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador to Syria in 2005, following the assassination. The Syrian government has denied any role in the attack.
Arab diplomats suggest Syria might represent a slightly more attainable goal on the Obama White House's Mideast agenda — certainly when compared with the dim prospect of a breakthrough in Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem met Feltman and Shapiro in March for four hours — both sides tested the waters to see what concrete offers might emerge as the countries seek to reinvent the relationship.
Senior administration officials have said the United States is now close to reappointing an ambassador to Syria. Currently, the highest-level American diplomat in Damascus is a charge d'affaires.
The U.S. is also interested in building a new embassy in Damascus. Eric Boswell, Assistant Secretary of State for diplomatic security, recently traveled to Syria to examine the security situation here.
The Obama administration believes engaging the Syrian regime will weaken Syria's strategic alliance with Iran, but Syrian officials have repeatedly dismissed the idea, saying Damascus was more than willing to be a bridge between Washington and Tehran.
Syria has seemed increasingly confident on the world stage, having managed to break out of international isolation. Barely a day goes by without a Western politician or envoy knocking on Assad's palace door.
Damascus, which wields considerable influence over two of Israel's main enemies — Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon and Hamas, whose leaders are based in Damascus — has indicated that it seeks no further quarrel with Washington, even saying it would like the new administration to mediate the stalled Syria-Israel peace talks. Assad would also like to usher an end to U.S. sanctions and encourage a new influx of Western investment and technology.
Syria suspended its indirect talks with Israel to protest the Jewish state's three-week military operation in the Gaza Strip aimed at Hamas militants. The assault left about 1,300 Palestinians dead, half of them women and children, and some 5,000 more wounded.