U.S. hopeful on deal with Syria

WASHINGTON Ñ The Bush administration has not given up on the prospect that Syria will eventually act against terrorism.

Officials said the administration continues to dangle the offer of economic and military aid should Damascus join the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism. This includes cooperating in the U.S. investigation of the 1996 Hizbullah attack on American military personnel in the Saudi city of Khobar.

Syria has offered to help Washington in the war against terrorism. But the regime of President Bashar Assad has said such help would be offered only as part of a United Nations effort.

Still, Damascus and Washington have discussed a bilateral effort, something the administration has highlighted. Damascus harbors a host of organizations that appear on the U.S. State Department terrorism list, including Hamas, Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad.

"The Syrians have talked to us about how they can help in the war against terrorism," President George Bush said. "We take that Ñ we take that seriously and we'll give them an opportunity to do so."

U.S. officials said Syria could improve its standing in Washington by either offering intelligence information, arresting terrorist suspects or freezing assets. But they sounded skeptical whether Damascus would move quickly in doing this.

Over the weekend, Syrian officials expressed satisfaction with Bush's statement. Earlier, the Assad regime relayed its anger to Washington regarding a warning last week by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who said that countries such as Syria risk U.S. attack if they continue support for terrorism. The State Department backed away from Armitage's statement.

"I would say there is no cause for anyone to be upset," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We expect nations to choose opposition to terrorism. We expect them to be against all terrorism, not just some terrorism. And that we want to do that and we want to work with people in any number of ways to accomplish that goal."

But Boucher ruled out that the United States would immediately press Syria to act against terrorists who are not connected to Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden. Boucher said such a commitment might be sought at a later stage.

Lebanon, occupied by Syrian troops, is said to have cooperated with Washington's campaign against terrorism. The Beirut-based An Nahar daily said the government in Beirut has provided information on those suspected of being linked to Bin Laden. This included Bin Laden's ally Usbat Ansar.