 Robert Ford. AFP photo |
Robert Ford, the first U.S. ambassador to Syria since 2005, arrived Sunday in Damascus where he will have a challenging task to re-engage the two countries which disagree on a raft of issues.
"The US ambassador arrived in Damascus," a U.S. embassy source told AFP. "He will not have any official meetings before submitting his credentials to President Bashar al-Assad," in line with protocol, the source said, adding that the procedure should take place within the week.
Ford's arrival comes almost six years after Washington withdrew ambassador Margaret Scobey, days after the February 2005 assassination in Beirut of ex-premier Rafik Hariri in a massive car bomb.
The attack was widely blamed on Syria but Damascus has always denied the allegations.
The U.N tribunal is expected to implicate members of Hezbollah when it hands down indictments, which media reports said could come as soon as Monday.
The appointment of Ford "shows that President (Barack) Obama wants to work with Syria even if we don't agree on every issue," the source at the U.S. embassy in Damascus told AFP.
"The ambassador's first priority will be to deliver messages from the American government to the Syrian government," the source added, without elaborating. Washington wants to Syria to drop its support for the Islamist Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip as well as for Hezbollah, and to distance itself from its long-time ally Iran. Syria for its part wants the superpower to pressure Israel to pull out of the Golan Heights, which it has occupied since 1967, Syrian analyst Sami Moubayed said.
U.S. President Barack Obama named Ford to the post last February, but because of Republican opposition was not able to confirm the appointment until Dec. 29, when he bypassed Congress while it was not in session.
The appointment should not be viewed as a "reward" for the Syrian government, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Jan. 7 as Ford was sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A career diplomat with wide knowledge of the Arab world, Ford takes up his post at a time of renewed tensions in neighboring Lebanon, where the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies quit the government on Wednesday over a U.N.-backed probe into Hariri's murder.
"The US ambassador arrived in Damascus," a U.S. embassy source told AFP. "He will not have any official meetings before submitting his credentials to President Bashar al-Assad," in line with protocol, the source said, adding that the procedure should take place within the week.
Ford's arrival comes almost six years after Washington withdrew ambassador Margaret Scobey, days after the February 2005 assassination in Beirut of ex-premier Rafik Hariri in a massive car bomb.
The attack was widely blamed on Syria but Damascus has always denied the allegations.
The U.N tribunal is expected to implicate members of Hezbollah when it hands down indictments, which media reports said could come as soon as Monday.
The appointment of Ford "shows that President (Barack) Obama wants to work with Syria even if we don't agree on every issue," the source at the U.S. embassy in Damascus told AFP.
"The ambassador's first priority will be to deliver messages from the American government to the Syrian government," the source added, without elaborating. Washington wants to Syria to drop its support for the Islamist Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip as well as for Hezbollah, and to distance itself from its long-time ally Iran. Syria for its part wants the superpower to pressure Israel to pull out of the Golan Heights, which it has occupied since 1967, Syrian analyst Sami Moubayed said.
U.S. President Barack Obama named Ford to the post last February, but because of Republican opposition was not able to confirm the appointment until Dec. 29, when he bypassed Congress while it was not in session.
The appointment should not be viewed as a "reward" for the Syrian government, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Jan. 7 as Ford was sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A career diplomat with wide knowledge of the Arab world, Ford takes up his post at a time of renewed tensions in neighboring Lebanon, where the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies quit the government on Wednesday over a U.N.-backed probe into Hariri's murder.
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