US and Syria

[Merlin]

This looks like the beginning of a new relationship, very different from that in the time of Bush.

Syria Hopes For "Natural Relations" With U.S.

13 June [CBS] 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. ...

"We seek peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, between Syria and Israel, between Lebanon and Israel and full normalization between Israel and its Arab neighbors," Mitchell told reporters following his 90-minute meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

"The U.S. and Syria are well aware of the many difficulties ... yet we share an obligation to create conditions for negotiations to begin promptly and end successfully," the U.S. envoy said.

Mitchell spoke of the "integral role" Syria has to play, adding the U.S. was seeking "to build on this effort to establish a relationship based on mutual respect and mutual interest" and that Washington was "looking forward" to this continued dialogue.

"It's my hope that we can also see full diplomatic relations and friendship restored between Damascus and Washington at an early day in the New Year," he said.

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." ...

[Merlin]

A day later, we can already see a different picture.

Syria optimistic over US peace push

6 hrs ago DAMASCUS (AFP) — Syria's official press voiced rare optimism on Sunday over US efforts to reach peace in the Middle East, after a visit to Damascus by a top-ranking American envoy.

US envoy George Mitchell held talks on Saturday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the new US administration seeks to engage Damascus in its push to kick-start the stalled Arab-Israeli peace process.

Mitchell, the highest-ranking US official to visit Syria since President Barack Obama took office in January, said Damascus has an "integral role" to play in Washington's efforts.

"Today, there is real optimism because the two parties realise the importance of improving bilateral relations in order to achieve global peace," Ath-Thawra government newspaper said. ....

[Merlin]

The unthinkable is happening.

U.S., Syria discuss cooperation on Iraq: report

15 June DAMASCUS (AFP) – A U.S. military delegation has met officials in Syria to discuss ways of cooperating on the security situation in Iraq, a daily newspaper close to the government reported on Sunday.

Al-Watan said Friday's talks, the first of their kind since 2004, were held “at the request of the Americans” and focused on “ways to begin cooperation on security matters between the two parties in Iraq.”

“Several similar requests in previous years were rejected by Syria because of the absence of the necessary political will for such cooperation,” it said.

A U.S. embassy official had told AFP on Saturday that an American military delegation had met officials in Damascus, saying they had “positive and constructive” talks but without mentioning Iraq.

Al-Watan said the meeting coincided with renewed political dialogue between Damascus and Washington, the visit by U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell, and the planned nomination of a U.S. ambassador to Syria.

Syria and the United States have long had strained ties and these deteriorated after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Relations worsened following the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former premier Rafiq Hariri. Washington recalled its ambassador after the murder.

“The United States wanted to hear Syria's view on how to bring about stability to Iraq,” Al-Watan on Sunday quoted a senior unidentified U.S. State Department official as saying. ...

[Merlin]

Relations continue to improve.

Obama sending ambassador to Syria after years

30 min ago WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will return an ambassador to Syria, filling a post that has been vacant for four years and marking an acceleration of Washington's engagement with the Arab world.

The move reinforces Obama's determination, outlined in his Cairo speech earlier this month, to deepen America's role in the Middle East as he seeks to broker peace among Israel and its Arab neighbors and improve U.S. relations in the region. ....

Jeffrey D. Feltman, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, informed Syrian ambassador to Washington, Imad Moustapha, of the plan on Tuesday night. ....

[Johnny W]

With Iran having issues, its probably a good time to move in and see if we can make some diplomatic headway.

[astralis]

as i predicted several years ago-- US strategic picture is slowly improving now that some resolution (of a sorts) has been reached in iraq. i don't think the US will be able to completely detach syria from its uneasy alliance with iran, but we will increasingly have the ability to influence things in the area.

with any luck, if this process continues it will grant israel increased security space- and the US will need to put immense pressure on the israelis to make an accommodation with the palestinians instead of frittering it away as israel has done in the past.

[Parihaka]

Back to doing deals with right wing dictatorships and murderous regimes I see

[astralis]

pari,

nah, nothing new- bush, after all, had the great democrats of saudi arabia over at his ranch.

[Parihaka]

pari,

nah, nothing new- bush, after all, had the great democrats of saudi arabia over at his ranch.

Precisely;)

[Merlin]

Mitchell in Syria

US Syria ties have very much improved. To the Obama admin, Syria is now an important part of Arab-Israeli peace.

U.S. Wants Syria Help In Israel - Palestinian Talks

28 July DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The United States wants Syria's help in forging a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. envoy George Mitchell said on Sunday.

Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy for the Middle East, said after meeting President Bashar al-Assad that restarting talks between Syria, which backs the Palestinian group Hamas, and Israel was a "near-term goal" for Washington.

"If we are to succeed, we will need Arabs and Israelis alike to work with us to bring about comprehensive peace. We will welcome the full cooperation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic in this historic endeavor," he said.

The indirect talks between Syria and Israel, which were being mediated by Turkey, were suspended during the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in December. Turkey said this month it was ready to resume mediation of those talks.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks backed by a quartet of international mediators -- the European Union, the United States, the United Nations and Russia -- are also frozen.

Mitchell, who is on a regional tour that includes Israel, described his discussion with Assad as "very candid and positive" but he did not say what the United States expected from Syria, especially on Hamas.

The Islamist group, which has controlled Gaza since defeating forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, opposes Abbas's approach to peace with Israel.

Hamas has also resisted international pressure to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept past agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

U.S.-SYRIA TIES IMPROVE

Syria's support for Hamas has contributed to deteriorating ties between Damascus and Washington in the last several years, which improved after President Barack Obama came to office in January, and said Middle East peace was a U.S. priority.

Syria remains under U.S. sanctions but Obama has decided to return a ambassador to Syria. Washington withdrew its envoy in 2005 to protest against the assassination in Beirut of Rafik al-Hariri, a Lebanese parliamentarian and former prime minister.

"I told President Assad that President Obama is determined to facilitate a truly comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace," Mitchell told reporters.

Syrian officials privately say Damascus has played a role in bringing Hamas to a more accommodating position on peace with Israel, including recent statements by the group calling for the establishment of Palestinian state within the borders of land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War.

Abbas has said he will not revive the negotiations unless Israel halts settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, in accordance with a 2003 peace "road map" that also commits the Palestinians to control militants.

Israel has been trying to work out a compromise on the settlement issue with Washington, linked with progress toward normalization of relations with Arab countries.

Mitchell said the normalization issue was "the ultimate aim" that a five-year-old Arab peace initiative also backs....

[Equilibrium]

Syria has always been "constructive" when strategic realities in the region run against its favor.

Damascus tried to undermine its Jordanian and Lebanese neighbors in the 70's, conciliating only when their attack on Israel foundered on the Golan Heights and soon found the IDF counteroffensive within sight of Damascus. After the cease-fire accords, they upturned Lebanon's domestic order.

With Iraq at war with Iran in the 80's, Syria, allied with Iran, invaded Lebanon to impose its preferred regime and accepted the UN peacekeeping force after its advance had been stopped by the Israeli intervention. Following the stalemate on the battlefield and the withdrawal of the peacekeepers, Syria returned to its intransigence.

Only when the Oslo Accords surprised Damascus and the Soviet Union collapse did it actually seek to participate in a conference to settle the Lebanon and Palestinian issues- even sending forces to fight with the Coalition in the 1991 Gulf War.

They were conciliatory to the Bush Administration after Saddam Hussein was toppled. They became intransigent again when we ran into the difficulties of the occupation. With Iraq on the verge of returning as a strategic bulwark in the middle of the region, Damascus' nuclear ambitions ended by the Israeli Air Force, its proxies in Lebanon stopped by the popular support of the opposing parties, the overt interest the other Arab nations have in its stability and Iran consumed in its domestic insecurity, Assad now seek to accommodate the US.

Let's see how long Damascus' leopard's stripes change.

[Merlin]

The Obama admin has to show some actions now. This 'sanction waivers' is it.

US seeks sanctions waivers for exports to Syria

1 hr ago [AFP] WASHINGTON — US envoy George Mitchell has told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Washington will seek sanctions waivers in order to export aircraft and other equipment to Syria, US officials said Monday.

But the officials said the move -- which comes as President Barack Obama's administration pursues diplomatic engagement with Syria, a former foe -- did not signify any lifting or easing of sanctions imposed on Damascus in 2004.

"Senator Mitchell told President Assad that the US would process all eligible applications for export licenses as quickly as possible," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said as Mitchell continued his regional tour.

Kelly, speaking after the daily briefing, cited in particular "requests to export products related to information technology and telecommunication equipment and parts and components related to the safety of civil aviation."

But Kelly said "there hasn't been any decision to lift the sanctions" imposed under president George W. Bush's administration. "Any changes to US sanctions require close coordination with Congress," he told reporters. ....

[cyppok]

People also have to remember that there is a major drought going on and wheat/grain supplies are tight. Ergo
Continued Drought in 2009/10 Threatens Greater Food Grain Shortages

Syria:
Syria experienced its worst drought in the past 18 years during the 2008/09 winter grain growing season. Drought stress, which was exacerbated by abnormally hot spring temperatures, caused significant losses to the nation’s irrigated and rain-fed winter grain crops. The USDA estimates total wheat production in Syria in 2008/09 at 2.0 million tons, down 50 percent from last year.

http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/highlights/2009/05/Syria
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