[AP/Washington Post] Donna Abu-Nasr - The abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants close to Syria is highlighting the strained relations between Washington and Damascus. John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, has called on President Bashar Assad to arrest Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal and close the militant group's office in Damascus. Alberto Fernandez, director for public diplomacy in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, said, "We are very concerned about what we see as Syrian interference and negative activity in a variety of fields - its interference in Lebanon which continues until today, its support for Hamas which hurts the Palestinian people, and its continued interference in Iraq."
2006-07-12 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive