Two senior U.S. envoys are in Damascus for the first high-level contact between America and Syria since 2005.

Jeffrey Feltman and Dan Shapiro are meeting Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in the capital Damascus.
Ahead of the trip, Feltman, a former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, said they had a ""long list"" of concerns to discuss with Syrian officials.
Syria's ambassador to Britain said the U.S. must consider Arab aspirations and not just those of the Israelis.
U.S.-Syria relations soured after former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri died in a car bomb in Beirut in February 2005.
Shortly afterwards Syria pulled out its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year presence in the country.
Last month several leading U.S. Congressmen, including Senator John Kerry, went on an unofficial visit to Damascus for talks with President Bashar al-Assad.
Speaking before the pair arrived in Syria on Saturday, Feltman said: ""Our trip to Syria... is an opportunity for us to start addressing these concerns and using engagement as a tool to promote our objectives in the region.""
He sought to reassure the Lebanese that U.S. support for Beirut was ""unwavering"", despite the latest overtures towards Damascus.
Feltman served as U.S. ambassador in Beirut until 2008, and is currently an acting assistant secretary of state.
As a congressional aide, Shapiro was instrumental in drafting the Syria Accountability Act, which placed sanctions on Damascus in 2003.
During his time in Lebanon, Damascus accused Feltman of orchestrating an anti-Syrian movement in Lebanon.
Syria's ambassador to Britain, Sami Khiyami, told the BBC before Saturday's meeting: ""Syria is the gateway to peace in the Middle East.
""I think the American government, Obama personally, has to take care of the aspirations of the Arab peoples and not only of the Israeli people.""
The last senior U.S. official to visit Damascus was Richard Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, in January 2005.
Washington withdrew its ambassador from Syria shortly afterwards, following Hariri's assassination.
Damascus has tried to paint Saturday's visit as something of a victory, proof that standing fast in the face of US pressure over the last few years has paid off, our correspondent says.
But the choice of envoys seems to signal that Washington is taking a tough but serious approach to its engagement, says our correspondent.
(Source: BBC)