Syrian officials were thrilled to hear that a US ambassador to Damascus will be coming. But Washington is not really rushing it, says Bassel Oudat in Damascus Syrian officials believe that Obama's administration will lift the sanctions on Syria soon, and may even rescind the Syria Accountability Act. The government-run media claims that Obama will name Frederic Hof from the Middle East Policy Council as his future ambassador to Damascus. But Hof says this was only a "rumour". Washington hasn't had an ambassador in Damascus since 2005, when it recalled Ambassador Margaret Scobey to signal its suspicion that Syria had a hand in the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri. Since then, US officials promised to isolate Damascus unless the latter stops backing Hizbullah and hardline Palestinian factions, pulls out of Lebanon, and quits making things hard for the Americans in Iraq. Washington stopped short of closing down the US Embassy in Syria, now being run by the charge d'affaires. And Damascus keeps an ambassador, Imad Mustafa, in Washington. Syrian-US relations plummeted when the Bush administration accused Damascus of sponsoring terror and of membership in an "axis of evil". With Obama in power, Syrian officials are hoping for better times. The fact that the US special envoy to the Middle East skipped Syria in his recent tour didn't dampen their hopes. Confirming media reports, Fayez Ezzedine, a leading figure in the ruling Baath Party, believes that the US will soon name an ambassador to Syria. "The reappointment of a US ambassador to Damascus would be a first step and a proof of US goodwill," he said, adding that a "rapprochement" in US-Syrian relations was underway. Emad Fawzi Al-Shoeibi, who runs a think tank in Damascus, said that the US will have to abrogate the Syria Accountability Law and name an ambassador to Damascus to prove its goodwill. Otherwise, Damascus is going to stand its ground. "Syria didn't back down at the peak of the crisis with the US, and it is not going to back down now, definitely not after the victories the resistance scored in the wars of 2006 [in Lebanon] and 2009 [in Gaza]," he remarked. But this may be wishful thinking, according to other analysts. Damascus, some commentators have pointed out, will have to make concessions in the end. Syrian diplomatic sources in Washington say that the whole thing about the naming of the ambassador is irrelevant. What matters most to them is to know how far the US is willing to change its Middle East policy. Radwan Ziadeh, a senior researcher at the US Institute of Peace, doesn't expect a new US ambassador to be named before June. Syria is not a top priority for the new US administration, he said. In statements to Al-Ahram Weekly, Ziadeh said that "the new Department of State is still examining the nature of the relations with Syria, which would take some time because of the change of administrations. A new approach to Syria is likely to emerge, but we don't know the details yet." It would be unrealistic to believe that relations would go back to their former level anytime soon, Ziadeh pointed out. For starters, Syria's involvement in Iraq has undermined US confidence. And Damascus hasn't met any of Washington's requests. Also, the Lebanese lobby, which is influential, is opposed to current Syrian policies. Even if Obama wants to abolish sanctions on Syria, he would have to ask the congress to do so, which is too much work for an administration that has so much else on its mind, he added. Two congressional delegations have visited Damascus of late. One was led by John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the other by Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The two men met President Al-Assad and discussed Syrian-Iranian relations, the arming of Hizbullah, the backing of Hamas, and the Syrian-Israeli talks. Following his talks in Damascus, Senator Kerry said that Syria should stop supporting Hamas and Hizbullah before Washington changes its policy. He also advised Syrian officials to respect the outcome of the upcoming Lebanese legislative elections, coordinate with Washington with regard to Iraq and Iran, and push forward its peace talks with Israel. For its part, the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan advised US officials to "not bother to visit Damascus" if they were going to "sound like the Israelis". The newspaper was reacting to the remarks of Benjamin Cardin, a US senator who visited Syria two weeks ago and told the Syrians to stop supporting "terrorist" groups. The US Department of State a few days ago said that it requested a meeting with the Syrian ambassador in Washington. The Syrian media got excited until it transpired that all the Americans wanted to discuss was Syria's allegedly inadequate cooperation with the investigators of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Jeffrey Feltman, the US acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, has reiterated the official view on Damascus. Syria, he said, needs to quit supporting "terrorists", stop attempting to acquire non-conventional weapons, end its interference in Lebanon, and improve its human rights record. And yet, for now at least, the Syrians remain hopeful.
