Washington punts on Syria

NEW YORK - As Barack Obama moved formally to repair United States relations with Syria by nominating an ambassador to serve there after a five-year hiatus, William Burns, America's top career diplomat, held talks in Damascus yesterday with the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad on an array of security issues in the region.

The sudden flurry of activity reflects a gamble by Washington that engaging more closely with Syria means the US can persuade it to take steps on a number of fronts that it sees as being vital to improving stability in the Middle East with regard to all its neighbours - Iran, Iraq, Lebanon as well as Israel.

Emerging from his meeting with President Bashar, Burns said the nomination of Robert Ford, a top Arabist at the US State Department, confirmed "America's readiness to improve relations and to co-operate in the pursuit of [a] just, lasting and comprehensive peace between Arabs and Israelis".

The last American ambassador in Damascus was withdrawn by the Bush Administration in 2005 in the wake of the assassination in Beirut of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister. Many countries accused Syria of being involved in the attack which killed 22 others but Damascus denied it.

Obama campaigned on a promise to renew dialogue with old enemies and Washington was moving even last year towards restoring an ambassador to Syria.

As part of the rapprochement, George Mitchell, Obama's Middle East peace envoy, has also been there at least twice. Newspapers in Damascus reported last week that the country had indicated its approval of a new US ambassador.

The nomination of Ford, who is currently the deputy ambassador in Iraq and served as the US ambassador to Algeria from 2006-2008, needs to be approved by the US Senate and there were the first rumblings of dissent yesterday from members of the Republican Party.

"With this nomination, our foreign policy again risks sending the message that it is better to be an intractable enemy than a co-operative, loyal US ally," complained Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee.

- INDEPENDENT