Syria: A Beautiful Friend in the Neighbourhood

American relations with Syria have been frosty, if not downright icy for decades. Starting with Syrian involvement in the 1976 Lebanese Civil War along with the subsequent occupation of Lebanon and arming of Hezbollah, the diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and Syria has been poor.

The list of problems is long: complicity in the 1983 Hezbollah bombing of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut as well as the Iranian-sponsored rearming of Hezbollah after the 2006 war with Israel; the 1982 destruction of Hama by then president Hafez Assad, killing an estimated 10-25,000 people; the UN finding of Syrian involvement in the car bomb murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others; al Qaeda and related insurgent organizations grouping in eastern Syria and infiltrating Iraq; and the open sponsorship of Hamas and other terrorist groups in Damascus. These are some of the factors intensifying the belligerence between America and Syria.

This list is not complete without the Syrian-North Korean cooperation on missiles and building a nuclear facility (since destroyed by israel), and Syrian-Iranian economic, political and military relations, including public approval by Bashir Assad of the "re-election" of Iranian President Ahmadinejad in June.

Nonetheless, this year, an apparent thaw in relations between the two states appears to be quickening in momentum. In February, the Obama Administration waived Syria Accountability Act provisions to approve the export of aircraft parts and repair services to Syria for civil aviation.

Twice during the spring, State Department and NSC officials visited Damascus, followed in June by a delegation from the U.S. Central Command. Additionally, the return of a U.S. Ambassador to Damascus was announced on June 24th. In July, according to Agence France Presse, Middle East "peace process" envoy George Mitchell told Assad he would work to speed up the process of obtaining exemptions to anti-Syrian sanctions. At the end of July, the United States announced a decision to ease sanctions on spare aircraft parts, information-technology products and telecommunications equipment.

A second delegation from Central Command arrived in August accompanied by an aide to Sen. Mitchell. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, who said the talks are focused on Syria's "ongoing efforts to help stabilize the situation in Iraq."

But why?

Export waivers have always been available for products deemed by President Barack Obama to be important to the "welfare of the Syrian people." It is unclear how selling information technology to the Syrian government does that. It was telecommunications equipment - specifically, Nokia-Siemens "packet intercept technology" that allowed the Iranian government to monitor calls and alter cell phone information from protesters after the fraudulent Iranian election.

The American ambassador was withdrawn over Syrian involvement in the Hariri murder. The return of an ambassador appears unrelated to a resolution of the Hariri case. In the spring, a Defense Department spokesman said, "A significant aspect of the discussions has to do with border security and stemming the flow of fighters into Iraq." As recently as last week, the US Commander in Iraq expressed “concern” with “Syria’s role” in those operations. However, the characterization by the State Department is considerably more positive about Syria.

Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, expressed pleasure at the changed American posture in a Wall Street Journal interview. "We received assurances that the relations between the two countries should resume on the basis of mutual interests and most importantly on the basis of mutual respect. We really welcome such a new approach.”

But if the US is hoping to wean Syria away from its relationship with Iran and North Korea through political and economic benefit, the Syrians appear to be unpersuaded. Japanese intelligence learned in May that Iran, Syria and North Korea secretly test-launched in southern Syria a new, jointly developed short-range ballistic missile. Sources in Japan confirmed both the test and the failure of the missile.

If a nuanced view of the history of the Syrian stance toward its neighbors is employed, it could lead lawmakers to a better policy. Only time will tell if this current change in American posture will lead to positive results, or a continuation of the same violence and conflict we have unfortunately become accustomed to. 

Shoshana Bryen writes for The Cutting Edge News and is senior director for security policy of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. She can be found at www.JINSA.org.