Shanon, Ireland, (AFP) - US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar Assad had produced little in the way of a commitment to use his influence to rein in Islamic extremists in Lebanon and reduce regional tension.
Albright, who met with Assad earlier in Riyadh for more than two hours, said the Syrian leader had understood the US desire for Damascus to curb provocative acts by Hezbollah, but had not been responsive to her prodding.
"He took it on board, I can't say that there was more than that," Albright told reporters accompanying her back to Washington after a Middle East peace mission to the Sharm-el-Sheik summit in Egypt and the Saudi capital.
"He did say he understood that it was important," she said.
But asked whether Assad would respond positively to her pointed requests for Syrian intervention, Albright replied: "That was not the impression I got."
Hezbollah kidnapped three Israeli soldiers on October 7, ratcheting up tension in the region as violence between Israel and the Palestinians flared, and Sunday, on the eve of the Sharm-el-Sheikh summit at which the two sides agreed to end the clashes, claimed the captured an Israeli reservist colonel.
A senior US official said earlier in Riyadh that Assad had not denied Syria had influence over Hezbollah, but that he had stressed the group was "a serious social force in its own right."
Washington has long sought Damsacus' assistance in controlling Hezbollah as it believes the Syrian-backed group has contributed greatly to regional instability with its harassment and attacks on Israel.
Provocative acts such as these only increase the potential for the violence that has wracked Israel and the Palestinian territories for the past three weeks to spread beyond those boundaries, Albright told Assad, according to the official.
In addition to her apparently unsuccessful request for help with Hezbollah, Albright also discussed with Assad the results of the Sharm-el-Sheik summit, which saw Israel and the Palestinians agree to take steps toward a cease-fire and resumption of the peace process.
The US official said Assad told Albright that the furious mood in the Arab world -- "on the street," as Assad termed it -- over Israel's actions to quell the unrest should not be underestimated.
"He thinks there is a lot of frustration and anger out there and that you have to take that into account," the official said.
Albright and Assad had their hastily arranged talk a day after they each flew into Riyadh: Albright at the end of the Sharm-el-Sheik summit and Assad ahead of a weekend Arab summit in the Egyptian capital.
As Assad began his two-day state visit to Saudi Arabia, state-run Damascus Radio called for a "strong Arab front" against Israel to be affirmed at the Arab summit.
Syria's official press has been strongly critical of the Sharm-el-Sheikh meeting, seeing it as a ruse to preempt the Arab summit and of benefit only to Israel.
Wednesday's meeting, described as the "first serious discussion" between a top US official and Assad since he succeeded his late father, Hafez al-Assad in July, also touched briefly on the stalled Israeli-Syrian peace track.
However, the senior official said there was no indication of an imminent resumption of the talks and that Assad was "very committed to what we head from his father on the question of what Syria is looking for."
Albright and Assad have met only once before, for about 10 minutes when the secretary represented the United States at the funeral of his father in Damascus in July.
Albright and the senior official said Wednesday's lengthy talks hadn't produced a complete picture of the younger Assad, but had provided Washington with some insight into where he stands, particularly on his desire to bring Syria into the information technology revolution.
"He's a modern person," Albright said, adding that the 36-year-old president had obviously been educated with the latest in technology.
"He said you have to think about things in a new way," Albright said, quoting Assad as telling her: "You have to make sure you are not using IBM software in an Apple computer."
"In terms of talking to him as a (member of a) new generation," Albright added. "I felt that he was in fact looking at things in a different way. But again, we'll have to see." – AFP.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
