Assailed by US rhetoric, Syria circles its wagons

It apparently took the personal intervention of Jacques Chirac, the French president, who has close ties toAssad, to persuade Damascus to take Washington's threats seriously. The border with Iraq was closed and Iraqi refugees turned away.

"The Syrians are rattled by what happened in Iraq and the pressure from the Americans... but they cannot be seen caving in to US demands," says a diplomat.

Syrians are still fuming over a visit last weekend to Damascus by Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' International Relations Committee and a longtime critic of Syria.

Mr. Lantos publicly chastised the Syrian government, declaring it had made a "historic mistake" in supporting Iraq, and saying that "the time is long overdue to correct the course of Syrian policy."

He delivered to Assad a list of conditions that Damascus should fulfill "if Syria is to forge a new relationship with the United States." Syrians regarded Lantos's demands as the height of American arrogance and bad manners.

"The Syrians are very sensitive to external pressure and unfortunately this is a factor that the Americans fail to appreciate," says Mohammed Aziz Shukri, a professor of international law at Damascus University.

Professor Shukri, who was involved in a Syrian-US dialogue program with Houston's Rice University last year, says he is at a loss to explain what he describes as Washington's hostility toward the Arab world.

"The US administration is acting so irresponsibly that they will end up paying for it," he says. "Sooner or later, the American people will realize that their government has led them into an unholy war with 1.5 billion Muslims."

Syrians argue that Washington fails to understand the complexities and dynamics of Arab and Islamic society. They point to the example of the Bush administration's apparent surprise at the rapid mobilization of Iraq's majority Shiite community and opposition to the presence of American troops in Iraq.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa publicly mentioned this week what he called the "dangerous misunderstanding" between the Washington and Damascus in reference to US warnings for Syria and Iran not to interfere in nation-building efforts in Iraq.

Syria has indicated a willingness to engage with Washington, toning down its opposition to the "road map" charting the path to Palestinian statehood which was released to the Israelis and Palestinians on Wednesday. But at the same time, Damascus insists that the road map include Syria and Lebanon, underlining a concern here that the two countries will be overlooked as the Palestinians and Israelis move ahead with their peace plans.

On the more fundamental issues, such as Syria's support for groups like Hamas and Lebanon's Hizbullah, diplomats and analysts here believe that Damascus is unlikely to bend to Washington's demands if nothing concrete is being offered in return.

"It's like we are being ordered to not only drop our guns but to bend down and kiss the Americans' feet as well. And all we get in exchange is a promise of a smile," a Syrian analyst says.

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