Feltman: Syria Can Play an Important & Constructive Role in Mideast

Syria can play "an important and constructive role" in the Middle East, US envoy Jeffrey Feltman told reporters Saturday in Washington in a conference call from Damascus.

"It is my view that Syria can play an important and constructive role in the region," Feltman, the acting secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said after talks with Foreign Minister Walid Moallem and other Syrian officials.

Two senior US envoys were meeting Syrian leaders on Saturday as Washington pursues its new policy of engaging with all countries in the Middle East, even its long-time foes.

Shortly after their arrival, Feltman and Daniel Shapiro went straight into talks with Foreign Minister Walid Moallem. Washington's overtures to Damascus are in line with the policy of new US President Barack Obama to engage states in the region, Feltman said in Beirut ahead of the trip.

"The president has said he wants to sustain in principle engagement with all states in the region and that includes Syria," he said. Feltman is a former ambassador to Lebanon and acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, while Shapiro is senior Middle East and North Africa director at the National Security Council.

The pair expects to discuss a "long list" of concerns Washington has with Syria on the first high-level US trip in four years. "Our trip to Syria... is an opportunity for us to start addressing these concerns and using engagement as a tool to promote our objectives in the region," Feltman said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in occupied Palestine this week on her maiden tour of the Middle East that the envoys would hold "preliminary conversations" with Syrian officials.

Clinton said on Tuesday "There are a number of issues we have between Syria and the United States as well as the larger regional concerns that Syria obviously poses."

Feltman and Shapiro will "explore with Syria some of these bilateral issues," she said. Feltman met the Syrian ambassador in Washington Imad Mustafa in late February in what a State Department spokesman called a "very frank discussion."

US-Syria ties were especially tense under President George W. Bush's administration. Last month several leading US Congressmen including Senator John Kerry visited Damascus for talks with President Bashar al-Assad.