Syrian President Bashar Assad recently
relayed a message to US President Barack Obama in which he stated Damascus was seeking to improve its relations with Washington, Lebanese newspaper al-Mustaqbal reported Sunday.
According to the report, Assad used Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to
relay his message, which included a four-part request: For the US to reinstate its ambassador to Damascus, for it to take Syria off
its terror watch list, for the US-Syrian-Iraqi coordinating committee – tasked with supervising the Syrian-Iraqi border – to resume its activities, and for Obama to commit to and sponsor Damascus' peace talks with Jerusalem.
| Pessimism |
|
| Syrian ambassador to US 'not optimistic about peace talks' / Yitzhak Benhorin |
|
Imad Moustapha addresses possible resumption of negotiations with Israel in CNN interview, says current situation 'is not positive'. He also accuses American administration of taking double standards by criticizing oppression of post-election riots in Iran but ignoring Israeli policy in Gaza |
| Full story |
|
|
|
The Lebanese newspaper further reported that once Abbas briefed the US president on Syria's wishes, Obama promised to consider all of them "favorably."
Last week, Washington announced
it would be reopening its Damascus Embassy.
Israel is monitoring
these developments carefully. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said
Sunday that he intended to address the issue of the Israeli-Syrian peace talks during his upcoming visit to Washington.
RSS
