Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday that Syria has begun forcing groups the Bush administration considers terrorist organizations to close their offices in Damascus, but more is expected.
At a news conference at the presidential palace in Beirut, Powell told reporters that in their talks in Syria, he and President Bashar Assad discussed "all of the outstanding issues," including weapons of mass destruction, turning wanted Iraqis over to the United States, Syria's support for armed organizations and sealing the border with Iraq.
On each point, Powell said, the Syrian leader said he wanted to consider the issues further and then follow up diplomatically.
In Lebanon, Powell met with President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri before heading back to Washington.
Earlier, Powell has vowed to challenge Syrian leaders to prove their acceptance of post-Saddam Hussein realities in the Middle East through "action and performance", on his first trip to the region in more than a year.
Powell, who was met at the airport Friday by Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara said he would press Damascus to end suppport for anti-Israel groups, halt all pursuit of chemical weapons and sever itself from remnants of Saddam's toppled government.
The end of the war in Iraq coupled with this week's release of the long-awaited "roadmap" for a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 2005 has fundamentally altered the situation in the Middle East, Powell said.
"I will make it very clear to him (Assad) how the United States views the changed situation in the region with the departure of Saddam Hussein's regime and with the roadmap," Powell told reporters en route to Syria after stops in Spain and Albania.
"I'll explain to him how these two things are related," he said, noting that the roadmap calls also for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace deal.
"What I'll be looking for... is whether or not as a result of the exchange we have tomorrow and our respective assessments, we start to see specific action and performance on the part of the Syrian government that will reflect an understanding of this new situation," Powell said.
He said he would look at any Syrian pledge openly but with some skepticism since on his first visit to Damascus in 2001, Assad had told him an oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria would be shut down quickly.
"I will be interested in performance and I am sure there will be occasion to remind my Syrian colleagues that two years ago I got an assurance about oil going through the pipeline that turned out not to be the case," Powell said.
"It was going through the pipeline and they said yes, 'It will come under UN control', and it did not come under UN control. And so I will always have that in my background software and on my hard drive," he said.
Powell noted that if Damascus refused to change with the times, it may be subject to new US sanctions under the 2001 USA Patriot Act which aims to quell terrorism and possibly under the Syria Accountability Act which several vocal lawmakers have reintroduced in Congress after failing to win passage last year.
Powell did not elaborate on what the sanctions might cover.
"The real test of the discussions will come not tomorrow or the next day but in the days ahead," he repeated on Friday.
Powell on Saturday turned aside the idea of immediate U.S. support for an Arab-backed U.N. resolution on ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction.
Going into his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, Powell said clearing destructive weapons from the region is a longstanding U.S. goal, but now is not the time to address that matter.
On its part, Syria's leaders tried to convince Powell to support a U.N. resolution calling for the Middle East to be free of weapons of mass destruction, Syria's U.N. envoy said Friday.
The Arab-backed resolution, introduced by Syria in the Security Council, is aimed at Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons.
Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said Syria believes the time is right for the council to adopt such a resolution because it will spur progress toward peace between the Israelis and Palestinians who have just been presented with a new "road map" to settle their long and bloody conflict.
"It is clear that Israel is the only state in the region hindering the establishment of such a zone," Wehbe said, noting that Iran was also backing the resolution. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
