Clinton plans to send 2 diplomats to Syria

McClatchy Newspapers

JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Tuesday that she’s sending two senior U.S. diplomats to Syria to engage the long-isolated regime as part of the Obama administration’s new push for stability in the Middle East.

The decision appeared aimed at cultivating an elusive Israeli-Syrian peace deal and neutralizing Iran’s growing influence in the region.

“We don’t engage in discussions for the sake of conversation,” Clinton said on her first visit to Israel as secretary of state. “There has to be a purpose to them. There has to be some perceived benefit accruing to the United States and our allies.”

The talks could lead to a repair of relations with Syria, which hit a new low in 2005 after former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated when his motorcade was bombed in Beirut, Lebanon.

After the killing, which many suspected that top Syrian leaders had directed, the Bush administration recalled the U.S. ambassador from Damascus, Syria, and refused to receive the Syrian envoy in Washington.

Clinton made her announcement amid talks with Israeli political leaders that offered few clues as to how the new U.S. administration will proceed with Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy.