Syria gives pledge on 'wanted' Iraqis

Two US congressmen today said President Bashar Assad assured them Syria will not grant asylum to Iraqis wanted for war crimes and will expel any Iraqis who cross into the country.

The lawmakers, the first US officials to meet Assad since the recent escalation of US-Syrian tensions, also said they expected to see a decrease in the friction in the next few weeks, especially after US Secretary Colin Powell’s planned visit to Syria. No date has yet been set for the trip.

Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat, and Darrell Issa, a California Republican, described a calm Assad who is eager to address US concerns raised since the war on Iraq ended earlier this month.

“It’s not an angry attitude with which he approaches these issues, but one of: ’Hey, let’s discuss them face-to-face,”’ said Rahall.

Asked whether he found Assad inflexible on the issues discussed, Issa said: “I find him very flexible. The man enjoys dialogue.”

Shortly after their meeting, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited Damascus for talks with his Syrian counterpart.

The US-Syria tension has concerned many in the region. At a meeting on Friday in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the foreign ministers of all Iraq’s neighbours - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Iran – along with Egypt and Bahrain condemned US threats against Syria.

Mubarak left Syria for Bahrain without talking to reporters, but his information minister, Safwat al-Sharif, said the talks between both presidents focussed on the need for “the US-British troops to withdraw from Iraq and the need to support the Iraqi people”.

Washington accuses Syria of sponsoring terrorism and harbouring remnants of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime and told Damascus to stop it or face diplomatic or economic sanctions.

Issa said Assad gave both men a “two fold and absolute” assurance that Syria will not give asylum to any wanted Iraqis and that it will expel anyone that comes to Syria.

Rahall said the president told them Syria has a list of wanted Iraqi war criminals not allowed into the country – one that’s longer than the list of wanted Iraqis Washington has compiled.

“So, there’s no asylum being granted to any war criminals in Syria,” said Rahall.

Rahall described US charges that Syria has received Iraqi weapons of mass destruction as “ridiculous” while Issa said Assad had denied those claims.

Both officials urged Assad to close offices of Palestinian factions based in Syria and listed as terrorist by the US administration.

As for the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which Syria has used as a proxy in its conflict with Israel and that Washington says is a terrorist group, Issa said Assad told them if the Mideast issue is settled, groups like Hezbollah and the Palestinian factions will “by definition fade away”.

The congressmen said they told Assad support exists for Syria to join the Mideast peace process. Syria, the most hard-line Arab state bordering Israel, is key to progress in the negotiations.

Its talks with Israel over the Golan Heights, which Israel seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, foundered in January 2000 over Syria’s rejection of an Israeli demand to keep the Sea of Galilee’s eastern shore, which lies at the foot of the heights.

On US-Syrian relations, which have always been uneasy, Issa said Assad compared the US technique in handling the ties with the British one.

He told them that “often Americans come here with a list of demands and the British come here wanting to talk about mutual interests and mutual needs,” said Issa.

He said Assad believes that if the British “approach was taken he would be as receptive to the United States as he is to Great Britain”.

Issa said the congressmen’s trip was aimed at trying to ”move a positive dialogue and to promote ... a better engagement between Secretary Powell” and the Syrians.

Rahall said Assad “shares concerns and interests with America in this part of the world and wants to pursue in the right direction what we all want to see - peace, a nuclear and chemical weapons free area and the advancement of the peace process.”

He said he believed tensions would “deescalate” after Powell’s trip and “that we will see the mutual interest of both countries benefiting from it.”

Issa relayed to Assad the US need for a “working together cooperation” with Syria on Iraq, similar to the cooperation they had in the war on terrorism.

“There’s hope for steady improvement,” said Issa. “War has stressed our relationship with Germany, with France and with Syria, and it’s now time to repair all of those relationships.”

The congressmen rejected comparisons between the Baath party that ruled Iraq and its Syrian rival.

“It’s very clear that these are not the same parties,” said Issa. “I happen to be a member of the conservative party in the United States, but you can go to Australia and other places and the same term of conservative can have the opposite meaning.”