Syria-US.

US Military Team Visiting Damascus on Wednesday

In another sign of improved ties between Washington and Damascus, a US military team is expected to arrive in Syria on Wednesday to discuss the security situation at the Syrian-Iraqi border, US sources said, the Beirut daily AN NAHAR reported Tuesday. The delegation from the US Central Command that supervises US forces in the Middle East and South Asia "will hold a series of meeting with Syrian officers," which will be "a continuation of previously held discussions between a US military team and Syrian officers," the sources said. Washington first dispatched a team of high-ranking military officers to Syria in June. The team had asked Damascus to do more to stop foreign insurgents from infiltrating Iraq via the Syrian-Iraqi border. It is worth noting that Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said American rapprochement with the Syrians will be judged more by their cooperation in Iraq, not in Lebanon.

Washington continues to accuse Syria of not doing enough to stop insurgents from crossing over its borders to Iraq, although it concurs that Damascus has taken some security measures in this regard. The United States also announced that it is dispatching a new ambassador to Syria after a four-year hiatus caused by the February 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Damascus was widely accused of the crime, an allegation it categorically denies. The paper quoted other US-based sources as saying there has been no development in the naming of the new US envoy to Damascus. A new ambassador is expected to be named in September.

The US also continued to impose sanctions on Damascus, which were first passed in 2004, to the dismay of Syria. However, it has dispatched its special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell and his aide Frederick Hoff to the Syrian capital to engage Damascus in its efforts to revive the Mideast peace process.