SYRIA: The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, is in Damascus today for important talks with the Syrian President, Dr Bashar Assad, writes Michael Jansen.
The issues on the agenda are Iraq, the "road map" for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, Syria's support for groups the US has placed on its terrorist list, and Syria's relations with Lebanon.
During the US war on Iraq, Damascus was accused by the Bush administration of supplying Baghdad with military equipment, notably night vision goggles, permitting Arab volunteers to enter Iraq through Syrian border crossings with the aim of fighting US troops, and granting refuge to senior members of the former Iraqi regime. Syria flatly denied the first allegation and said it could not exercise complete control of its long frontier with Iraq, particularly since there are tribal smugglers who constantly criss-cross the border.
Damascus reacted to the third charge two weeks ago by banning the entry into Syria of Iraqis, including those holding non-Iraqi passports. Mr Farouk Hijazi, the Iraqi ambassador to Tunisia and once an intelligence official who had taken refuge in Damascus, was deported to Iraq as were another 30 Iraqis, the majority from Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein.
Since the war is over, Syria believes there is no point in sustaining the first two allegations and argues that Damascus has dealt with the third. Now that the post-war period has begun, Mr Powell can be expected to ask Syria to refrain from intervening politically in the unfolding scenario in Iraq in favour of groups such as the Shia "Dawa" movement, which has a representation in Damascus.
While Mr Powell is certain to urge Dr Assad to support the road map, a Syrian informant said that Damascus expects the US to move decisively to implement this plan and to work in parallel with Damascus and Beirut to conclude comprehensive peace en- tailing the return of the Israeli-occupied Golan to Syria and the Shebaa Farms area to Lebanon.
Following its victory in the Iraq war, the Bush administration apparently feels itself to be in a strong position to press Damascus to close down local offices of 10 Palestinian dissident groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Syria would be highly reluctant to do so until there is some movement towards implementation of the road map and has been given assurances over the Golan.
A Syrian source told The Irish Times, "There can be no peace with Israel until Palestine is resolved to the satisfaction of the Palestinians, every inch of the Golan is returned to Syria, and Israel withdraws from all Lebanese territory." On the issue of Syria's troops in Lebanon, Dr Assad is expected to make the points that Beirut asked for this force, it has stabilised the country for more than a decade, and over the past three years Syrian soldiers have redeployed to the east and been reduced from 20,000 to 15,000. He is likely to rebuff any call to end Syria's support for Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shia movement which compelled Israel to withdraw from south Lebanon in 2000. Threats by neo-conservative US congressmen to impose sanctions on Syria are unlikely to impress Damascus which has very little trade with the US.
Lebanese see Mr Powell's brief visit to Beirut this afternoon as a message that Washington considers Lebanon an independent country capable of making its own decisions rather than as a compliant protege of Damascus.