U.S. assesses isolation policy of Syria

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is assessing its isolation policy of Syria in the final months of the Bush administration but is unlikely to return an ambassador to Damascus any time soon, said U.S. officials and experts.

A senior U.S. official said there were talks on how best Washington could "influence" Damascus, particularly following the recent rapprochement between France and Syria, with President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Damascus last month.

"We are seeing if there is some advantage in how we reconfigure ourselves diplomatically," said the senior official, who asked not to be named as the issue is sensitive.

He told Reuters late Friday that Washington's move came amid some "encouraging signs" by Syria, such as its help in brokering the election of Lebanon's president and decision to have diplomatic ties with the neighbor it dominated militarily for nearly three decades.

In a sign of a possible thaw, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly at the end of last month -- their third meeting in 18 months.

Moualem told Dubai-based channel Al-Arabiya his talks with Rice were "positive" and "an introduction to dialogue."

Rice's staff say she pushed him on several areas -- Syria's ties with Iran, border security with Iraq, their "actions" in neighboring Lebanon, the harboring of Palestinian extremist groups, as well as the slow pace of human rights reform.

The State Department's lead diplomat on the Middle East, David Welch, followed up with a lengthy discussion with Moualem in New York on Monday.