Syria says U.S. is slow to act

DAMASCUS, Syria (Wall Street Journal)-- Months after Washington launched an ambitious diplomatic outreach to Syria, officials here are expressing impatience at what they say is the slow pace of rapprochement, endangering another front in the Obama administration's Mideast policy push.

After a flurry of engagement between Washington and Damascus earlier this year, Syrian officials more recently have accused the Obama administration of dragging its feet on two key diplomatic tracks: the reinstatement of a U.S. ambassador to Damascus, promised by Washington over the summer, and the easing of American sanctions.

The perceived slowdown comes amid stalled efforts by Washington to get Israel and the Palestinians to restart peace talks. That has raised worry among Syrian officials over how committed Washington is to bringing Damascus into its wider regional peace plans.

“It sheds questions on the seriousness of the U.S. in going ahead towards peace in the Middle East,” said Abdullah Dardari, Syria's deputy prime minister for economic affairs.

Syria has long suggested it can be an agent of influence in any Mideast-peace push. But it also wants the U.S. to play an honest-broker role in its separate negotiations with Israel. Syria says Washington can't play such a role as long as it maintains economic sanctions against Damascus.

“How could you have a peace process in the region without Syria?” asks Mr. Dardari, a top aide to President Bashar Assad. “And then how could (the U.S.) play this (honest-broker) role without normal -- the minimum of normal -- relations?”

Earlier this year, Washington appeared to be moving quickly to engage Syria. The outreach was seen as a way of pulling Mr. Assad away from Tehran's orbit. Syria's leverage over Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, is also seen as crucial to stabilizing the region.

In June, the Obama administration said it intended to reinstate an ambassador here. The next month, Washington said it would make it easier for American companies to export certain goods, including aviation and technology equipment.

The U.S. didn't promise to lift sanctions, something that would need Congressional buy-in. Still, Syrian officials embraced the move toward easing.

But Dardari said that after initial contact between Syria's national carrier and officials at Boeing Co. earlier in the year, talks over getting aviation parts have gone cold. A Boeing spokesman said in a statement that the company is engaged in “continuing discussions” with the Syrian airline, but declined to discuss details. Boeing said it coordinates all contact with the carrier with the U.S. State Department.

A State Department official Sunday declined to comment other than saying the U.S. was “committed to using dialogue with Syria to address our concerns and identify areas of mutual interest.”

Assad himself recently chided Obama for not matching words with actions: “What has happened so far is a new approach. Dialogue has replaced commands, which is good. But things stopped there,” the state-run SANA news agency quoted Assad saying earlier this month.

The public frustration coincides with a recent hardening of rhetoric here regarding regional peace prospects. Last week, Assad warned of renewed violence in the region in the absence of progress in Israel-Palestinian peace talks. During a trip to Paris Friday, Assad played down the likelihood of restarting indirect Syria-Israel talks, which broke down early this year over military operations in Gaza.

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