Q&A: The US and Syria
The US has accused Syria of providing military help to Iraq and of developing chemical weapons. Syria denies the claims. The US Secretary of State Colin Powell has spoken of imposing sanctions. BBC News Online world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds answers some key questions.
Why Syria and why now?
Washington claimed that Syria had provided Iraq with night vision goggles to help counter the American superiority in night fighting abilities. It has also claimed that Syria let fighters enter Iraq, might have hidden Iraqi stocks of chemical or biological weapons and is allowing senior Iraqi figures on the run to cross the border and take refuge in Syria.
Syria has said that it has done nothing and points out that it has, historically, had very poor relations with the Iraqi leadership, so why should it help Saddam Hussein now? It took part in the war against Iraq in 1991.
Is Syria next on the list?
If that means next on a list of countries to be attacked, then the answer, according to both US and British officials is no. There have, however, been reports that some in the Pentagon have called for plans to be drawn up.
If it means that the US wants Syria to change its policies and is ready to exert pressure, then the answer is yes. The US Secretary of State Colin Powell is talking about imposing diplomatic and economic sanctions.
What does the US want Syria to do?
It wants Syria to keep out of Iraq, to end any chemical weapons programme it might have and to stop supporting groups which the Americans regard as terrorist organisations - Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories.
Syria, according to the US State Department, is a "state sponsor of terrorism". Syria admits that the groups have offices in Damascus but says these are for media liaison only. It also draws a distinction between international terrorists (such as Osama Bin Laden) and those fighting for national freedom (like the Palestinians).
Does Syria have chemical weapons?
The CIA said in 2001 that "Damascus already has a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin and it would appear that Syria is trying to develop more toxic and persistent nerve agents."
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claims that Syria has conducted chemical weapons tests over the past year. Many defence think-tanks have concluded that Syria does have a chemical capability and has Scud-type rockets which could deliver them.
Syria has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. However, Syria says that it has no chemical weapons.
What kind of government does Syria have?
Syria is run by a branch of the secular Arab nationalist Baath Party, which has traditionally competed for leadership in the Arab world with the Baath party in Iraq.
There was no love lost between Saddam Hussein and the former Syria President Hafez al-Assad. President Assad's son Bashir took over on his father's death but has not changed the system much except for some loosening of ties in the state-controlled economy.
Syria says that it remains open to a settlement with Israel but only if it gets the whole of the Golan Heights back, which it lost in the 1967 war.
Is Israel a factor in this confrontation?
Syria feels that the US is picking off the enemies and opponents of Israel one by one in order to make a final settlement with the Palestinians on Israeli terms easier to achieve.
Israel itself has said that it will make demands on Syria through the Americans, including an end to Syrian support for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel is, therefore, a factor but not the only factor. Washington has an agenda of change for the Middle East which goes wider. It wants to encourage a "democratic domino" effect, starting with Iraq. After Syria, it might look at Iran. |
