Barack Obama nominated a US ambassador to Syria in February after a 5 year absence. The US recalled its Ambassador in the wake of the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005 and speculation over Syrian involvement. The UN investigation is still ongoing.
Iranian regime President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian dictator Assad and Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah met for dinner last month in Damascus. Hassan Nasrallah (far right) has made few public appearances since 2006. This dinner was held right after US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns’s visit with Assad in Damascus.
Watching Barack Obama’s Middle East foreign policy is like watching a horror movie.
Barry Rubin at The Jerusalem Post reported:
The stories of the US engagement with Syria and the sanctions issue regarding Iran’s nuclear program are fascinating. Each day there’s some new development showing how the Obama administration is acting like a deer standing in the middle of a busy highway admiring the pretty headlights of the automobiles.
It’s like watching the monster sneak up behind someone. Even though you know he won’t turn around, you can’t help but watch in fascinated horror and yell: “Look out!” But he pays no attention.
Briefly, the Syrian government keeps punching the US in the face as Washington ignores it.
On March 1, a new record was set. The place: State Department daily press conference; the star, spokesman Philip J. Crowley. A reporter asks how the administration views the fact that the moment a US delegation left after urging Syrian President Bashar Assad to move away from Iran and stop supporting Hizbullah, Syria’s dictator invited Iran’s dictator along with Hizbullah’s leader to visit.
In other words, the exact opposite of what the US requested. Is the government annoyed? Does it want to express some anger or issue a threat?
Let’s listen. Crowley: “Well, I would point it in a slightly different direction… We want to see Syria play a more constructive role in the region. We also want – to the extent that it has the ability to talk to Iran directly – we want to make sure that Syria’s communicating to Iran its concerns about its role in the region and the direction, the nature of its nuclear ambitions…”
In other words, I’m going to ignore the fact that the first thing that Assad did after Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns’s visit was a love fest with Iran and Hizbullah. But even more amazing, what Crowley said is that the US government thinks Syria, Iran’s partner and ally, may be upset that Iran is being aggressive and expansionist. And it actually expects the Syrians to urge Iran not to build nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, as the administration congratulates itself on explaining to Syria that it should reduce support for Hizbullah, IDF military intelligence releases an assessment that Syria is giving Hizbullah more and better arms than ever before…
…Is it too much to ask policy-makers to pay attention to what’s going on occasionally?
So let’s leave it to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to sum up how things seem to Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hizbullah and many others. The Americans, he said, “not only have failed to gain any power, but also are forced to leave the region. They are leaving their reputation, image and power behind in order to escape… The [American] government has no influence [to stop] the expansion of Iran-Syria ties, Syria-Turkey ties and Iran-Turkey ties – God willing, Iraq too will join the circle.”
The US will return an American ambassador to Syria after a hiatus of 5 years.
Related… Obama talks, Syria mocks.
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