Syria, Iran will help U.S. with Iraq — for favors

updated 4:43 p.m. ET Dec. 6, 2006

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Syria and Iran are willing to help stabilize Iraq, as the Iraq Study Group recommended Wednesday, but both countries will want something in return and neither has a magic solution to the chaos, Mideast officials and analysts said.

Arabs paid close attention to the group’s long-awaited report — recognizing that Washington’s next moves in Iraq could have a major impact across the Mideast.

The region’s most popular satellite news networks, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, both devoted live coverage — with Arabic voice-over translation — of the release of the report at a Washington press conference.

The networks also repeatedly showed congressional testimony Tuesday by Robert Gates, President Bush’s nominee for defense secretary, who acknowledged the U.S. was not winning the war in Iraq and told lawmakers “all options are on the table.”

The bipartisan Iraq report warned that the situation in Iraq is “grave and deteriorating” and called for the Bush administration to try to engage Syria and Iran in diplomatic effort to bring stability.

At the same time, the report called for increased U.S. military support of Iraqi Army units with an eye toward pulling out most U.S. troops by 2008.

Bush has said he will take the commission’s recommendations “seriously” — though he has previously said he would not negotiate with Iran or Syria.

Offering help, not a solution
Syria’s vice president said Wednesday that both his country and its ally Iran are prepared to help.

“The two countries are Iraq’s neighbors, and without getting them involved it will not be easy to find a solution to the predicament in Iraq,” Farouq al-Sharaa told a political conference in Damascus.

“We are not so arrogant to say that Syria and Iran can solve Iraq’s problem,” he said. “The entire international community may not be able to solve it. But let them (the Americans) be a little bit modest and accept whoever has the capability to help.”

Iran and Syria have influence with both of the major groups involved in Iraq’s sectarian violence. Tehran is close to Shiite parties that dominate the government, while Damascus has ties to Sunni Arabs, their main rivals for power.

Iran is also believed to sponsor Shiite militias blamed for widespread killings of Sunnis. The U.S., meanwhile, accuses Syria of providing refuge for Sunni Arab fighters, including former Iraqi Baath Party leaders thought to have a role in directing the insurgency.

Bush says the countries encourage the violence in Iraq, though each denies backing extremists.

Syria’s ambassador to Washington, Imad Moustapha, said his country is willing to encourage Iraq’s Sunni Arabs to support the political process. But Damascus wants assurances that the United States will prevent Iraq from breaking apart.

“No party has a magic wand,” Moustapha said on the sidelines of an Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai. “Our paramount national interest is preserving Iraq’s territorial integrity.”

He called for a conference of all parties in Iraq — including Sunnis who support the insurgency, though not al-Qaida-linked terrorists — along with the nations of the region.

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