Sarkozy Visit to Damascus Signals Thaw in Relations

Syria took a giant step in from the cold yesterday when Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, embraced Bashar al-Assad, who is shunned by the United States as a supporter of terrorists fighting Israel.

Sarkozy, current president of the EU, is the first western head of government to visit Damascus since the 2005 assassination in Beirut of the former Lebanese prime minster Rafiq al-Hariri, which has been widely blamed on Syrian agents - though this is hotly denied by Syria.

Sarkozy, who hopes to advance the slow-moving peace talks between Israel and Syria, was given a red-carpet welcome before dining with Assad at the presidential palace in Damascus last night.

They will be joined today for a summit with Recep Tayipp Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, who has been brokering indirect negotiations between the two enemies. The emir of the Gulf state of Qatar, who helped resolve Lebanon's prolonged political crisis, will also be there.

It was Assad's acceptance of the Lebanese compromise and readiness to open an embassy in Beirut for the first time - thus formally recognizing Lebanon - that paved the way for Sarkozy's visit.

"Syria can make an irreplaceable contribution to solving Middle East issues," the French leader said before arriving in Damascus to carefully orchestrated praise from the state-controlled media.

Sarkozy faced protests in France when he reversed Jacques Chirac's policy of isolating Syria and invited Assad to Paris to attend an EU summit with Mediterranean countries in July. A UN tribunal investigating the Hariri killing has yet to issue any indictments. Chirac was a close personal friend of the murdered Lebanese leader, whose assassination forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after 29 years.

The French leader will be seeking to advance the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held captive in the Gaza Strip since June 2006. Shalit, a dual Israeli-French citizen, has become a bargaining chip between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is supported by Syria.

Hamas sources, meanwhile, flatly denied a report that Khaled Mashal, the organization's exiled leader, had been forced to leave Damascus, where he is based, for Sudan. Israel has insisted that Syria sever ties with Hamas and the Lebanese Shia organization Hizbullah, which is also backed by Iran.

Diplomats say Sarkozy will have to persuade Assad to make some gesture towards Israel and the west if other EU members, especially Britain and Germany, are to follow France's lead. But many believe progress with Israel will only come under a new US administration.

"Europeans should be very careful when they consider restoring their ties with Syria," said Yigal Palmor, deputy director of the Israeli foreign ministry, insisting that Syrian policies on terrorism and Lebanon remained unchanged.

Assad used an interview with a French TV station to praise Sarkozy for a "pragmatic ... realistic policy interested in stability and dialog". Syria is demanding the full return of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.