Word: damascus
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...Obama Administration is trying something similar with another traditional Middle Eastern irritant, Syria. Under George W. Bush, Syria got the cold-war treatment as well: rhetorical belligerence, veiled military threats, a withdrawal of the U.S. ambassador. Under Obama, by contrast, Middle East envoy George Mitchell has been to Damascus, the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister has been to Washington, and the rhetoric has become noticeably less hostile...
...Lebanese government. Lebanese media also suggest that Saudi Arabia was dismayed that Hariri's Future movement, which had been building a militia with Saudi money, was so easily routed by Hizballah in the May 2008 street fights. Last month, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah traveled to Damascus for a state visit with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in part to bury the hatchet over Lebanon. Even Hariri's coalition is breaking apart. Walid Jumblatt, the leader of Lebanon's Druze community and one of the architects of the anti-Syrian movement (he once told a Washington audience that America should...
Another contributing factor to the stalemate was the Saudi Arabian king’s visit to Damascus. Relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia have been tense ever since the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, but relations between the two countries have been improving steadily ever since Syria and Lebanon established proper diplomatic ties, and the reconciliation was sealed by King Abdallah’s visit to Damascus over the summer. Politicians in Beirut followed the events carefully, hoping that any new development might steer the government in a new direction. Both countries have interests in different Lebanese...
...offer of engagement and has welcomed a series of U.S. diplomatic delegations for talks about peace with Israel and cooperation with American goals in Iraq. "I believe Obama is working hard for peace," Muhammad Habash, a Syrian member of parliament and the director of the Islamic Studies Center in Damascus, told the Wall Street Journal. "We in Syria believe that Obama's initiatives have been suitable and that Syria is now witnessing important steps to correct the relationship with the United States. I believe everyone here will be very happy for Obama...
Indeed, rather than distance themselves from Iran, the Syrians recently gave the greenlight for Iran to expand its embassy in Damascus, already Iran's largest in the region. And the close ties between Iran and Syria were visible last month at a Quds Day celebration at the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus in September. The holiday has its origins in the aftermath of the Islamic revolution in Iran, when Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini declared the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to be a day to protest the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem. The keynote speaker...