Egyptian public, private sectors off on Apr 25 marking Sinai Liberation    Egypt's SCZONE welcomes Zhejiang Province delegation for trade talks    Beltone Venture Capital partners with Citadel International to manage $30m startup fund    S. Africa to use contingency reserves to tackle debt    Gaza health authorities urge action for cancer, chronic disease patients    Transport Minister discusses progress on supplying new railway carriages with Hungarian company    Egypt's local gold prices see minor rise on April 18th    Expired US license impacts Venezuela crude exports    Taiwan's TSMC profit ups in Q1    Yen Rises, dollar retreats as G7 eyes currency calm    Egypt, Bahrain vow joint action to end Gaza crisis    Egypt looks forward to mobilising sustainable finance for Africa's public health: Finance Minister    Egypt's Ministry of Health initiates 90 free medical convoys    Egypt, Serbia leaders vow to bolster ties, discuss Mideast, Ukraine crises    Singapore leads $5b initiative for Asian climate projects    Karim Gabr inaugurates 7th International Conference of BUE's Faculty of Media    EU pledges €3.5b for oceans, environment    Egypt forms supreme committee to revive historic Ahl Al-Bayt Trail    Debt swaps could unlock $100b for climate action    Acts of goodness: Transforming companies, people, communities    Eid in Egypt: A Journey through Time and Tradition    President Al-Sisi embarks on new term with pledge for prosperity, democratic evolution    Amal Al Ghad Magazine congratulates President Sisi on new office term    Tourism Minister inspects Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza Pyramids    Egypt's healthcare sector burgeoning with opportunities for investors – minister    Egypt starts construction of groundwater drinking water stations in South Sudan    Russians in Egypt vote in Presidential Election    Egyptian, Japanese Judo communities celebrate new coach at Tokyo's Embassy in Cairo    Uppingham Cairo and Rafa Nadal Academy Unite to Elevate Sports Education in Egypt with the Introduction of the "Rafa Nadal Tennis Program"    Egypt's powerhouse 'The Tank' Hamed Khallaf secures back-to-back gold at World Cup Weightlifting Championship"    Financial literacy becomes extremely important – EGX official    Euro area annual inflation up to 2.9% – Eurostat    Egypt builds 8 groundwater stations in S. Sudan    BYD، Brazil's Sigma Lithium JV likely    UNESCO celebrates World Arabic Language Day    Motaz Azaiza mural in Manchester tribute to Palestinian journalists    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Modest US gains from thaw with Syria
Published in The Egyptian Gazette on 09 - 02 - 2010

WASHINGTON - The US President Barack Obama team may get modest benefits from ending a five-year chill with Damascus but will find it hard, if not impossible to peel Syria way from hardline ally Iran and break the Arab- Israeli stalemate, analysts said.
Obama's administration said last week it submitted its nominee for ambassador to Damascus, the fruit of a year-long drive to engage Syria in a bid to promote Arab- Israeli peace.
Syria says it is studying the proposed nominee, who is widely reported to be Robert Ford, a career diplomat with experience in Arab countries like Algeria and Iraq, his most recent posting.
He would be the first US Ambassador to Damascus since the one recalled after former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri was killed in a bombing blamed on Syria on February 14, 2005.
Analysts said a thaw in ties could allow Washington to reap benefits from intelligence co-operation with Damascus and improve chances for Syria-Israeli peace, even while Palestinian-Israeli peace remains elusive.
Indeed, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, writing in the New Yorker
last week, disclosed that the Syrian secret services have already resumed cooperation with the CIA and Britain's MI6.
Aaron David Miller, who was a Middle East adviser in past US administrations, said Washington could achieve modest objectives, such as intelligence sharing, but he set expectations low.
The appointment of an ambassador "doesn't reflect anything like a significant improvement, let alone a transformation in the US-Syrian relationship", Miller told reporters.
Syria is a hard nut to crack, he said, because President Bashar al-Assad, from the minority Alawite sect, focuses foremost on ensuring his regime's survival ��" and that means having strategic ties with non-Arab and Shi'ite Iran.
"I'm not suggesting that it (the relationship) isn't amenable to change, but it would only change if the Syrians could convince themselves that they could get their needs met elsewhere," he added.
And its needs flow from its stakeholding in Lebanon via Hizbollah, the powerful Shi'ite Muslim political and military movement, which Iran has also backed in its decades-old campaign against Israel.
"As long as the Hizbollah-Iranian relationship is as close as it is, the Syrians, I think, will only alienate the Iranians at their own peril," Miller said.
He added Assad's Syria, which has a majority Sunni Muslim population, sees Iran as a hedge against a Sunni-led Arab world that it mistrusts, while it also looks to energy-rich Tehran for economic support. Syria also needs Israel to return the Golan Heights, which was captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, said Miller, a Woodrow Wilson Center policy scholar.


Clic here to read the story from its source.