Is Washington reaching out to Tehran via Damascus?

A little story that slipped through the net in many papers is the report that for the first time in five years a senior Syrian diplomat is visiting Washington, DC for talks with the Obama Administration. Syria has a reasonable relationship with Iran, both have been pariah states to the US for yeas, and so have banded together for support. However, if the Obama regime can rebuild the bridges with Syria and bring them back in from the cold, it opens a back door to negotiations with Iran.

 There is a wrinkle in the mix though. Tensions between the newly US minted Iraq and Syria are high. The Iraqi government accuses Syria of serving as a launching pad for violence in Iraq and is demanding Damascus hand over two members of the outlawed Baath Party who are blamed by Baghdad for truck bombings that killed more than 100 people. Syria rejected Iraq’s request, saying it had failed to provide evidence
implicating the two suspects. The US State department will need to smooth ruffled feathers on both sides if it wants dialog with Syria without causing offence to Iraq. It is a complex region, and the power are always shifting and sliding. We have long been advocates of engaging Syria and driving a wedge between them and Tehran, perhaps Washington finally agrees with us.

A senior Syrian official has been invited to Washington for talks, a U.S. Embassy official said Monday, in the latest signal of the Obama administration’s efforts to improve relations with a country deemed a state sponsor of terrorism.

The upcoming visit by Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Fayssal Mekdad, is the first in about five years and is part of U.S. efforts to improve strained relations with Damascus.

Mekdad, who is currently in New York as part of the Syrian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly meetings, will fly to Washington on Monday for talks with U.S. government officials on a range of issues, the embassy official said.

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The Syrian diplomat’s visit is part of a continuing dialogue with the Syrian government that began in March, the official said, without giving details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.

Syria’s Deputy FM invited for talks in Washington – Haaretz – Israel News