Israeli news on delegating Tenet to Syria

The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot said yesterday that the American President assigned the chairman of the Central Intelligence Agencgy (CIA) George Tenet to visit Syria in order to pressure it to take measures against Palestinian groups which take Damascus as headquarters.

The paper quoted Israeli sources as saying that the USA will delegate Tenet to Syria to convey to the Syrian leadership a strong warning concerning what it described "the active armed organizations in Syria." Israeli sources received information saying that the visit of US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to Israel, will be coincided with Tenet's visit to Damascus.

According to the Israeli sides, the visit of Tenet to Syria aims at making it clear to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he did not abide by his obligations to the American side to halt the activities of the armed organizations which take Damascus as headquarters.

The sources said that it seems the American president is concerned to put all his weight for solving the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and that to this effect he is also active at the Syrian level.

The sources added that delegating the chairman of the CIA, rather than other political figures is to show the Syrian President the extent of seriousness President George W. Bush gives to this issue. However, sources at the US Department Of State denied sending Tenet to Damascus and said that there are talks on the possibility of delegating Tenet to the region this week in the context of discussing necessary security measures and coordination between the Palestinians and Israel in case a ceasefire agreement is reached.