US ENVOY George Mitchell said on a visit to Syria that it has an integral role to play in peacemaking in the Middle East.
Following a meeting in Damascus with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Saturday, Mr Mitchell, a former senator who helped forge peace in Northern Ireland, said that Damascus and Washington had an obligation “to create conditions for negotiations to begin promptly and end successfully”.
He is the most senior official to visit Syria in recent years.
A senior Syrian official described the talks as “very positive” and said the situation in Iraq had also been discussed. Syria has been criticised for failing to halt anti-US fighters crossing into Iraq.
On Friday a US team staffed with military officers held a meeting with a Syrian delegation, indicating that security issues were also on the table.
The Obama administration is pressing Arab governments to promote the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and pursue peace talks with Israel on their own.
During 2008 Syria took part in Turkish-mediated indirect negotiations with Israel but the talks were broken off when Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu took power after the Israeli parliamentary election. He rejects Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, Syrian territory occupied by Israel in 1967.
Dr Assad demands the return of the Golan as Syria’s price for peace and calls for a regional settlement involving Israeli withdrawal from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza as well as tracts of territory in southern Lebanon.
Syria uses its support for the Palestinian Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the Lebanese Hizbullah to exert pressure on Israel and its western allies to adopt the 2002 Arab peace proposal for full Arab normalisation of relations with Israel in exchange for full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territory.
Hamas and Hizbullah are regarded by the US as terrorist organisations.
While the new US administration has reached out to Syria, Damascus was disappointed when sanctions imposed by its predecessor were renewed soon after President Barack Obama assumed office.
Damascus is particularly keen for the ban on the supply of spare parts for civilian aircraft to be lifted.
In spite of this let-down, Syrian foreign minister Walid Moallem said in a recent interview with US journalist Helena Cobban: “We approve of Barack Obama a lot. The man put a comprehensive peace back on the agenda. He also intends to pull out of Iraq completely. We are ready to help with that,” but said Syria had its own interests on this issue.
