Powell: talks with Syria over the border issues

The US secretary of state Colin Powell said yesterday that talks are underway between Syria, the USA and Iraq over controlling the Syrian Iraqi borders. A mission which he said is "not easy" stressing that the talks he had held in New York last week with his Syrian counterpart were "more positive than previous ones."

Powell told CNN "we believe that Syria can do more and I made in the beginning of this week (last week) talks with the Syrian foreign minister and Syria is ready for joint discussions with the Interim Iraqi government and the coalition forces."

He added that this will eventually take place and calling this the tripartite talks regarding the border. Powell had met with al-Shara last Wednesday on the sideline of the UN General Assembly headquarters and said that Syria adopted a positive attitude in dealing with the American fears on running patrols along its borders with Iraq and responding to UN Security Council resolution 1559 over withdrawing its forces from Lebanon.