Signs pointing to Damascus' break with Iran

Assad eyes U.S. role in talks with Israel, end of 'isolation'

By Sana Abdallah MIDDLE EAST TIMES | Thursday, July 10, 2008

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AMMAN, Jordan | Speculation is growing that Syria is ready to distance itself from Iran and come to the Western fold if the United States and its allies ultimately reward Damascus with political, financial and military support.

Officially, Damascus insists that its third-party negotiations with Israel, which are held through Turkish mediation and expected to soon be upgraded to face-to-face talks, are not taking place at the expense of its strong strategic relationship with Tehran.

But leaked information says otherwise.

The latest such leak came from Alon Liel, a former Israeli diplomat involved in back-channel talks that led to the current peace negotiations, in which Syria is seeking to retrieve the Syrian Golan Heights that Israel captured and occupied in the 1967 war.

"They are asking not only for the Golan Heights, but a change in Washington that will break the Syrian isolation internationally," Mr. Liel was quoted as saying in London's Daily Telegraph. "I also think they will not do it unless they are assured they can have an alternative to Iran."

The former envoy's remarks were similar to those made by a top French government official, who privately told a few Arab journalists in Paris last week that Syria has sent "some signs" it was willing to distance itself from Iran.

The source, who was not identified, said Syria was seeking France's good offices with Washington for a rapprochement and to persuade the United States that real progress in the peace process can only be made with American engagement.

Syrian President Bashar Assad and his foreign minister, Walid Mualem, have on a couple of occasions asked for U.S. involvement in these negotiations. But U.S. officials have been reluctant to open up to Syria until they have a commitment that it would disengage itself from Tehran, as well as from anti-Israeli Palestinian and Lebanese groups described as "terrorists."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead to offer Syria Western accommodation, inviting Mr. Assad to the July 14 Bastille Day celebrations in Paris and to join other leaders, including Israelis, in the launching of the Mediterranean Union project.

After halting high-level contacts with Damascus last year for fueling tension in Lebanon, the French president resumed these channels with Syria following its "positive role" in persuading its Lebanese allies to accept the Doha accord, which defused an explosive Lebanese crisis between the pro-Western government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, as well as the election of a president.