BEIRUT, 4 May 2003 — US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday Syria had started to rein in militant Palestinian groups, after he delivered a tough message to President Bashar Assad that Damascus must adapt to the new strategic situation brought about by the fall of the Iraqi regime. Powell also stressed Washington’s commitment to brokering a comprehensive peace in the region, and voiced cautious optimism that recent changes would help revive a political process between Israelis and Palestinians.
Following talks with President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut in the wake of his visit to Syria, Powell told reporters he had also stressed the need for an end to the presence of the resistance movement Hezbollah in south Lebanon. And he implicitly called for Syria to end its dominance of its smaller neighbor. “We have emphasized strongly our concern about the continuing terrorist activities of Hezbollah in the region and around the world,” he said.
“It is time we believe for the Lebanese Army to deploy to the border and end the armed Hezbollah militia presence,” he added, saying it was important to maintain calm along the Israel-Lebanon border. Responding to a question on whether the Syrians had acted against the offices of militant Palestinian groups in Damascus, a long-standing US demand, he said, “they did closures.”
“I expect them to do more with respect to the access and appearances of various officials of these organizations,” he added, saying he had made some suggestions to the Syrians on this issue. Questioned on his talks earlier in the day with Bashar, Powell said they had discussed weapons of mass destruction, Syrian support to Hezbollah and humanitarian issues. Following the fall of Baghdad on April 9, Washington ramped up pressure on Damascus, accusing it of hosting members of the ousted Iraqi regime and pursuing chemical weapons.
Powell said he raised the issue of sealing the Iraq-Syria border and “turning over individuals who might turn up in Syria from Iraq.” “In every instance the president said he wished to consider the point of view that I presented, and we will be following up in various channels,” he said. He also told top Syrian officials Washington was “committed to a comprehensive solution in the region, that would include Syria and Lebanon, would include the Golan Heights,” a strategic region Israel seized from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war.
A senior State Department official involved in the Damascus talks told AFP the Syrians expressed “some willingness to cooperate” but added, “whether relations improve or deteriorate at this point really depends on performance.” “We didn’t come here bearing carrots,” the official, said speaking on Powell’s flight from Damascus to Beirut for talks with Lebanese leaders. “We raised serious issues in a very direct way.”
