Sen. Kerry to travel to Syria next week, meet with President Assad

[babylonsister]

Sen. Kerry to travel to Syria to meet Assad

Sen. Kerry to travel to Syria next week, meet with President Assad

Staff
AP News

Feb 11, 2009 17:49 EST


Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, is planning to travel to Syria next week, where he will meet with President Bashar Assad.

The trip, confirmed by a spokesman for the Massachusetts Democrat, comes as President Barack Obama looks for a way to repair the U.S. image abroad and engage regimes hostile to U.S. policies.

Syrian-U.S. relations deteriorated sharply during former President George W. Bush's administration, which accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross its border into Iraq. Syria denied doing so, while saying it was impossible to control its extensive desert border with Iraq.

Kerry spokesman Frederick Jones said Wednesday that the senator will be part of a congressional delegation headed to the Middle East, stopping in both Israel and Syria. Jones called the meeting planned between Kerry and Assad "part of a continuing dialogue he's had with the Syrian government."

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