A top official under Syrian PresidentBashar Assadsays operatives from several Western intelligence agencies have held discussions with the government in Damascus about how to combat Islamic extremists who have become increasingly active inSyrias civil war over the past year.TheObama administrationon Wednesday denied thatU.S. intelligenceofficials have participated in such talks and suggested theAssad governmentmay be promoting a false narrative.
Still, the back-and-fourth claims added a fresh layer to Washingtons complex effort to inspire major players inSyrias nearly three-year-old civil war to attend a peace conference inSwitzerlandnext week.
TheAssad governmenthas said it intends to participate in the so-called Geneva II conference, which theObama administrationhopes will lay the groundwork for a political solution to the war. But the U.S. and its European allies are struggling to persuade the main opposition front to attend.
Complicating the situation is the fact that secular Syrian rebels increasingly have found themselves squeezed between advancingAssadforces andal Qaeda-linked terrorists seeking to exploit the chaos to gain a new regional foothold.
While theObama administrationhas raised alarm about groups such as the Nusrah Front and the Islamic State ofIraqand the Levant inSyria, it has said consistently that it stands withSyrias secular rebels against the Assad regime.
The situation has been further complicated by recent media reports about foreign fighters from around the world including Europe and the U.S. flowing intoSyriato join the extremists. The reports have increased fears in European capitals and in Washington that such fighters will pose terrorist threats when they return to their home nations.
In aBBCinterview Tuesday, Syrian Deputy Foreign MinisterFaisal Mekdadsaid officials from several Western intelligence agencies had recently visited Damascus for talks on combating radical Islamist groups.
Asked which Western nations he was referring to and whether any officials from Britain had been among them Mr. Mekdadsaid he would not specify, but many of them have visited Damascus.
TheBBCreported that British officials have denied the claim that the nations intelligence officials are involved in such cooperation with theAssad government.
In Washington, State Department deputy spokeswomanMarie Harfdenied thatU.S. intelligenceofficials had met with the Assad regime to discuss the extremist threat inSyria, but she left open the possibility that there may be some secret channels of communication between Washington and Damascus.
This specific report about intelligence agencies going to work with the Assad regime on counterterrorism is not true,Ms. Harfsaid.
But when asked if she meant there is absolutely noU.S. intelligencecommunity contact with theAssad government,Ms. Harfsaid: Thats not what I said.
I said I would check on that, if there are conversations with the regime. Not to my knowledge, but I dont want to say anything categorical that I dont know to be true, she said.
Ms. Harfalso said U.S. officials clearly consider the terrorist threat insideSyriato be of serious concern, but its absurd to considerAssador the regime a partner in countering that threat.
It is because of the climate they have created in the country both the security climate and the way theyve encouraged this behavior that terrorists are able to operate so freely in Syria today, she said. So we share the concern, but think the notion that the regime is truly concerned about it is sort of preposterous.
Separately, Secretary of State John F. Kerry has spent much of this week pushing to persuade the main political arm ofSyrias secular rebels to participate in the Geneva peace conference, which is slated to open Jan. 22.
The Syrian National Council, however, has been divided over whether it will be worthwhile to enter any kind of negotiations with theAssad government. The council has said it will vote Friday on whether to attend the peace conference.
By The Washington Times
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