Tension between US and Syria Tends to Ease

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 24, 2003

Tension between US and Syria Tends to Ease

Tensions between the United States and Syria have tended to ease in recent days thanks to diplomatic efforts by the two sides in a bid to resolve disputes.

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Tensions between the United States and Syria have tended to ease in recent days thanks to diplomatic efforts by the two sides in a bid to resolve disputes.

Syria on Monday welcomed the tuning down of US President George W. Bush's charges against Damascus, while calling for dialogue with Washington to resolve their disputes.

"We welcome Bush's statement and take it seriously. We hope that this statement will be the beginning of a serious, fruitful and constructive dialogue between Syria and the United States," Foreign Minister Farouk al Shara said at a joint press conference with his Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio.

He was responding to the statements made by Bush, who said Sunday that Syria was "beginning to get the message" sent by Washington not to harbor fleeing Iraqi fugitives.

"I'm confident the Syrian government has heard us, and I believe it when they say they want to cooperate with us," Bush said after attending an Easter Sunday church service at the Fort Hood army base in Texas.

In a bid to ease the mounting tensions with the United States, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday promised that Syria will not provide asylum for any fleeing Iraqi fugitives.

Assad made the promise in his meeting with two visiting US congressmen, Democrat representative Nick Rahall and Republican representative Darell Issa.

Meanwhile, Issa told the ABC television in the United States that Assad had pledged to expel Iraqi fugitives who managed to get into the country.

After the US-British forces' occupation in Baghdad, the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other top-ranking Iraqi officials disappeared mysteriously. The US intelligence agency thought they possibly had fled to Syria, whose border was open at the time.

On April 13, US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld accused Syria of hiding escaped Iraqi leaders, asserting that some senior Iraqi leaders have fled to Syria.

"There is no question" of that, Rumsfeld said while appearing on the NBC's "Meet the Press" program. He said some have remained in Syria, while others have moved on to different countries.

On the same day, US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned that Syria must not become a safe haven for Iraqi officials fleeing Baghdad, or it may face diplomatic and economic sanctions.

On April 15, the Syrian government rejected as "baseless" the threat and accusations by senior US officials, claiming that the accusations were designed to exercise pressure on Syria and its adherence to the international legitimacy, the official news agency SANA reported.

To ease mounting US-Syrian tensions, mediation efforts were launched by some Arab countries and the Europeans. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin visited Damascus successively. Senior Syrian officials held face-to-face talks with US Ambassador to Syria Theodore Khattouf, exchanging ideas on how to resolve disputes between their countries. Meanwhile, consultations with Arab and European countries were held to work out measures to cool down the tensions.

Facing the US accusations, Syria declared on April 14 that it would close its 600-kilometer border with Iraq to all but humanitarian traffic, allowing no Iraqis from the neighboring state to enter the country. On April 18, Syria prohibited the boarding of two Iraqis with no formal visa on a plane headed for Damascus.

Analysts believe that easing tension is to the interests of both countries, since the United States needs the understanding and cooperation from Arab countries, especially Syria, in its reconstruction of Iraq while Syria does not hope to fall into Bush's next military target as well.

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