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Netanyahu ready to head to Damascus immediately, As-Sharq al-Awsat reports - Mar 3, 2010 - 4:38:43 AM

As-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement that he is ready to meet with Syrian officials without setting preconditions in order to resume indirect Israeli-Syrian peace talks.
Netanyahu is willing to immediately meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Jerusalem, or in any other city, the daily said.
The PM's statement comes in response to the Guardian's report last week that Syria is ready to accept Israel's gradual withdrawal from the Golan Heights in return for normalizing relations

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In Continuing Defiance of U.S., Syrian President Meets With Leaders of Iran and Hezbollah - Mar 1, 2010 - 9:49:31 AM

After scorning the Obama administration's appeals to move away from Iran, Syrian President Bashir Assad late last week disregarded another appeal from Washington by holding talks with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. 
As the administration prepares to send an ambassador to Damascus for the first time in five years, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Senate hearing last Wednesday that Assad's close relationship with Iran and his support for Hezbollah in Lebanon were among the issues on which it was pressuring Assad.

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Syria's Assad: pariah to power-broker - Feb 18, 2010 - 4:02:23 AM

Washington's decision to send a new ambassador and top diplomat to Damascus this week represents a remarkable turnaround for Syria's Bashar al-Assad. Five years ago, President Assad appeared weak and isolated as he stood before parliament to announce his army's withdrawal from Lebanon. Greeted by rapturous applause in Beirut and nervous surprise in Damascus, the optometrist who had inherited power barely five years before undid in one speech what had taken his father 24 years to secure: domination over Syria's western neighbour.

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U.S. to return envoy to Syria after five-year absence - Feb 17, 2010 - 8:59:36 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama took a major step toward improving strained ties with Syria on Tuesday, announcing his intention to reappoint a U.S. ambassador to Damascus after a five-year absence.
The White House said Obama had nominated career diplomat Robert Ford to the post. The nomination must still be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
The United States withdrew its ambassador from Damascus in 2005 after the assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Syria's foes in Lebanon accused Damascus of involvement, a charge Syria denied.

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Syria approves new US Ambassador - Feb 11, 2010 - 6:22:00 AM

Syria approved Thursday the U.S. government's request to name a new Ambassador to Damascus, filling a post left vacant for five years in the wake former Lebanese leader Rafik al-Hariri's assassination.
"The approval was sent through the diplomatic channels to Washington," a diplomat with knowledge of the decision told CBS News on condition of anonymity.
The approval comes just one month after a meeting in Damascus between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and senior U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell.