Report: Syrian ambassador's term extended to resume contacts on negotiations

Well-informed sources in Damascus told the London based al-Hayat daily that the Syrian government has extended the term of its ambassador, Walid al-Mu'allim, in Washington until the end of the current year.

Meanwhile, a Syrian economic delegation is preparing to pay a visit to the US capital in the first visit in several decades, in signals of a political indication between the two countries.

The sources stated that Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa asked al-Mu'allim to stay until the end of the current year, after he was given two months to return to Damascus, after a presidential decree was released in the middle of September to withdraw al-Mu'allim together with six other ambassadors.

Observers attribute this extension to "the resumption" of international contacts to find a formula for the return of the two Syrian and Israeli delegations to the negotiating tables, after contacts were frozen as al-Sharaa underwent successful surgery at the beginning of last month.

The Israelis refused full withdrawal from the Golan. In this respect, diplomatic sources in Damascus told al-Hayat that US - Syrian contacts are being made to discuss a possible visit by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to Damascus in the course of her tour of the region at the beginning of next month.