US presses Syria to move away from ally Iran

On the eve of a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Damascus, the Obama administration said Wednesday it is pressing Syria to move away from ally Iran and stop arming Hezbollah.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it is also urging Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon, cooperate in Iraq and resume peace talks with Israel when she disclosed the administration's price for deeper engagement with Syria.

Testifying in the Senate, Clinton was blunter than ever about Washington's bid to drive a wedge between Damascus and Tehran -- the target of a U.S.-led drive for U.N. sanctions designed to halt Iran's contested nuclear program.

Syria earlier announced that Ahmadinejad will visit Damascus on Thursday for talks with Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, whose government says it wants to help Iran and the West engage in a "constructive" dialogue over the program.

During a budget hearing, the chief U.S. diplomat said she agreed with a senator that "there is a slight opening (with Syria) to build on...but there are a lot of issues between our government and the Syrian government."

She said William Burns, the undersecretary for political affairs and third-ranking U.S. diplomat, "had very intense, substantive talks in Damascus" when he visited there last week.

"And we've laid out for the Syrians the need for greater cooperation with respect to Iraq, the end to interference in Lebanon and the... provision of weapons to Hezbollah, a resumption of the Israeli-Syrian track...," she said.

And we've laid out for the Syrians the need for greater cooperation with respect to Iraq, the end to interference in Lebanon and the... provision of weapons to Hezbollah, a resumption of the Israeli-Syrian track

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Moving away from Iran

Clinton said Washington also is asking Syria to "generally to begin to move away from the relationship with Iran, which is so deeply troubling to the region as well as to the United States."

The United States accuses Syria and Iran of supporting militant groups in the region, including the Lebanese political and guerrilla movement Hezbollah as well as the Palestinian radical group Hamas.

Iran and Syria are the main foreign backers of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah but both deny that they provide anything other than moral support.

Washington also accuses Syria of turning a blind eye to militants crossing its border into Iraq.

Clinton promised to study Senator Arlen Specter's proposal to invite Syrian leader Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in a bid to revive talks suspended after Israel's 2008 armed incursion of Gaza.

But she expressed doubt over whether all the parties would agree.

President Barack Obama's administration has pursued a year-long campaign to engage Syria, a former U.S. foe, and energize its thwarted push for a broad Arab-Israeli peace, particularly between Israel and the Palestinians.

Obama last week announced that Robert Ford will be the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus since Washington recalled its envoy after Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri was killed in February 2005 in a bombing blamed on Syria.

Clinton said she hoped Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will resume soon, taking a more upbeat tone about efforts to end the conflict than typical for U.S. officials.

"We hope that that will commence shortly," Clinton told lawmakers. "We think it's absolutely essential that they begin to talk about the final status issues that divide them ... but we are well aware of the difficulties that confront us," she said.

We hope that that will commence shortly," Clinton told lawmakers. "We think it's absolutely essential that they begin to talk about the final status issues that divide them ... but we are well aware of the difficulties that confront us

Hillary Clinton