Syria May Want Reward for Helping Iraq

Looking out the rear window of a vehicle with a poster showing Bashar Assad, left, his father Hafez Assad centre, and Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, with Arabic legend reading "Men Promised and Fulfilled", in Damasus on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2006. As the U.S. debates whether to reach out to Syria for help in calming Iraq, some close to the Syrian regime say the country would be willing to help, but only if it got something valuable in return, although the regime itself has stayed tightlipped on the issue. (AP Photo Bassem Tellawi). (Bassem Tellawi - AP)

DAMASCUS, Syria -- As the U.S. debates whether to reach out to Syria for help in calming Iraq, some close to the Syrian regime say the country would be willing to help, but only if it got something valuable in return.

Syria certainly is interested in political dialogue with the West and wants talks with Washington, many here say. But the regime of President Bashar Assad will want, in return, help on issues it cares deeply about _ such as a return of the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

The regime itself has refused to say what it envisions, though it has expressed willingness to help with Iraq and broader peace deals.

But Issa Darwish, a writer and former deputy foreign minister, said: "Syria won't be bitten from the same hole twice," referring to a widespread Syrian feeling that it got nothing in return from the U.S. after it agreed to participate in the earlier 1991 Gulf war to push then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.

"Why should Syria help the Americans to leave Iraq in honor (this time), if they are not ready to reciprocate?" he asked in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Washington is debating whether the Bush administration should engage Syria and also Iran _ two countries it regards as pariah states that work to destabilize the entire Middle East. Some claim Syria could use its control over Iraq's most porous border to alleviate insurrection against the U.S. occupation, and ongoing civil conflict between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq.

But it is far from certain President Bush will decide to reach out, even if the influential Iraq Study Group recommends it. Last week Bush strongly endorsed his administration's past tough line with both countries, Iran and Syria.

Syria has done some outreach of its own on Iraq. Its foreign minister arrived in Baghdad last week to underline his country's readiness to help stabilize Iraq. While there, he announced a full restoring of diplomatic relations.

Shortly before the Syrian foreign minister arrived, however, a Syrian suicide bomber blew himself up in Hilla, a city to the west, killing 22 Iraqis _ and again underscoring how tangled Syria is in its war-wrecked neighbor.

Damascus has repeatedly denied involvement in such attacks, claiming that if Syrians are involved, they are acting on their own because of outrage at the American occupation.

And, Iraqi officials cautioned against any dramatic immediate results from Syria's overture.

"We have expected Syria to show more understanding toward us ... and the first (thing is) to start cooperation with us," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was quoted as telling the Syrian foreign minister, according to a statement by his office.