The United States is apparently offering Syria's government diplomatic carrots while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns the Damascus government to cut off its ties with Iran as a condition for ties with Washington. During his recent visit to the Syrian capital, U.S. Under Secretary of State William Burns informed Syrian officials that the U.S. had decided to remove its objections regarding Syria's joining the World Trade Organization, as part of U.S. efforts to improve relations with Syria. At the same time, Syrian Tourism Ministry Saadallah Agha Al-Qal'aa and the chairman of the U.S. Tourism Association discussed ways to increase American tourism to Syria. The Middle East Media Research Institute says these developments were reported in the London based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat and the Syrian newspaper Al-Thawra on Thursday.
The Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyasa cited British sources on Thursday that one of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's goals in his current visit in Damascus is to give Hizbullah and Hamas green lights to carry out simultaeneous attacks on Israel to delay sanctions against Iran's nuclear development program.