According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, a delegation of senior US government officials met secretly with the heads of Syrian spy agencies, in an attempt to define the terms of a possible agreement between Washington and Damascus. Relations between the United States and Syria have been strained since the end of the '50 years, when Damascus accused Washington of a failed coup and expelled the American ambassador on the spot.
In the 2012, the US closed its embassy in the Syrian capital in response to the violent repression of protests by the government
Since then, Washington has carried out missile attacks on Syrian soil at least twice, openly supporting armed groups that oppose the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
According to the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, a group of senior American officials secretly met the heads of Syrian intelligence agencies in Damascus. If so, this could bring about a major change in US-Syria relations.
The newspaper, which supports the Shiite paramilitary group Hezbollah, pro-Assad, close to the Syrian government, published news of the presumed meeting on Tuesday, saying that the meeting, held in complete secrecy during the last week of June, was facilitated from intermediaries in Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
According to the newspaper, the visiting delegation, which included senior officials from many US intelligence and security agencies, "was transported to a secret Syrian government facility in the middle of the night."
To represent the Syrian delegation to the meeting, instead Ali Mamlouk, special security adviser to President al-Assad and head of the national security office of the Ba'ath government party as well as Mohammed Dib Zeitoun, director of general security, and Muwaffaq Asaad, deputy chief of staff of the Syrian armed forces.
During the meeting, the two sides tried to lay the foundations for a possible post-civil war agreement between Washington and Damascus.
According to the Lebanese newspaper, the US delegation offered to withdraw US special forces from northern Syria controlled by the Kurds. In return, they would demand the removal of Iranian troops from Syrian regions adjacent to the Israeli border. The two sides also discussed the resumption of intelligence sharing on issues related to the Sunni radicals operating in Syria. During the meeting, no decision was taken, but the two sides decided to continue to share proposals and ideas on a possible bilateral agreement.