Al-Shara to meet with Powell today
A meeting will be held at the headquarters of the UN between the US secretary of state Colin Powell and his Syrian counterpart Farouk al-Shara on the sideline of the UN General Assembly meeting. The meeting was the first of its kind between the two countries since the deterioration of bilateral relations following the war on Iraq.
Syrian and American sources expected the discussions to concentrate on the security situation on the Syrian- Iraqi borders and the situation in Lebanon following the UN Security Council resolution 1559, especially as this meeting is announced two days after the announcement of redeployment of certain Syrian forces units in Lebanon.
The US under secretary of state for the Middle East affairs William Burns met with the Syrian ambassador in Washington Imad Mustafa in New York to review topics discussed in Damascus during the visit of the American political- security delegation and to prepare for today's meeting. Mustafa said in a press statement that his government expects that al-Shara- Powell meeting will lead to " enhancing dialogue which was recently revived between Syria and the USA. He added the meeting does not mean removing obstacles and problems between us, rather strengthen the process of dialogue."
