US: Policy of isolating Syria to stay; concern heightened

Oct 22, 2008, 11:25 GMT

Cairo- The US will not review its policy of isolating Syria because Damascus has not moved far enough to allay US fears over its role in the Middle East, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Welch, said in an interview Wednesday.

Syria's move to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon is 'a start' but is not enough to convince Washington to change its policy, Welch told the pan-Arab London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

In mid-October Syria initiated diplomatic ties with Lebanon for the first time since independence 60 years ago.

Following the 2005 car-bomb assassination of Lebanon's former premier Rafik Hariri, Damascus was forced under US-led international pressure to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending nearly three decades of control of Lebanon.

'The US has diplomatic ties with Syria but unfortunately these channels have become very tight recently. Our concern regarding the Syrian attitude is increasing,' Welch said.

Welch told Asharq al-Awsat that Washington is expecting progress in another four issues that are of great concern.

The first is giving shelter to the Palestinian factions in Damascus, which according to Welch 'has terrorist activities.'

Second is Syria's strategic relations with Iran 'which have a negative influence on the Middle east', Welch said.

Third is meddling in Lebanese internal affairs and fourth is the infiltration of militants to Iraq through Syrian borders.

Welch also pointed out that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her counterpart Waleed al-Moalem on the fringes of the September UN Secretary General meeting in New York to give him a 'face to face message' about the US concerns over Syrian.

'I think it is important that from time to time people would hear our reasons of concern face to face and in a direct way,' Welch said.

Concerning the possibility of the US sponsoring the Turkish-mediated indirect Syrian-Israeli peace talks, Welch said that the US would not have any preconditions to doing this other than that Syria demonstrates it is serious about achieving peace.

'If the Syrian government is serious it has all means to show this in a direct way to the US and not through the media,' Welch told Asharq al-Awsat.

The indirect talks started in Turkey in May. The fourth and last round was held in July. A fifth round was postponed as a result of the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.