Syria-US ties to Improve?
Syria-US ties to Improve?Israel News Photo: (file)

The United States has scheduled a meeting between Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman and Syrian Ambassador to the US Imad Moustapha. The meeting is seen as a sign of a possible thaw in US-Syrian ties.

Moustapha expressed cautious optimism in an interview with the Syrian paper Ath-Thawra, saying the meeting might “represent an overture in Syrian-American relations.” He and Feltman will discuss a variety of issues facing the Middle East, he said.

U.S. State Department officials released a statement emphasizing that America remains concerned by Syria's conduct. “There remain key differences between our two governments, including our concerns about Syria's support to terrorist groups and networks, Syria's acquisition of nuclear and non-conventional weaponry, interference in Lebanon and worsening human rights situation," the statement read.

"This meeting is an opportunity to use dialogue to discuss these concerns,” officials added.

The US withdrew its ambassador from Syria in 2005 in protest of alleged Syrian involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Relations between the countries soured prior to that, however, when then-President George Bush included Syria in the “axis of evil,” saying Syria was seeking to obtain chemical or biological weapons.

The Syrian Ambassador was last invited to the State Department following the discovery of evidence indicating that an Israeli airstrike in Syria in 2007 had hit a nuclear facility.

The Obama administration has indicated that it may station an American ambassador in Syria again. Three congressional delegations visited Syria in recent weeks, one of them headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee head John Kerry.