[Al Arabiya Latest] On the eve of a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Damascus, the Obama administration said Wednesday it is pressing Syria to move away from ally Iran and stop arming Hezbollah.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it is also urging Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon, cooperate in Iraq and resume peace talks with Israel when she disclosed the administration's price for deeper engagement with Syria.
Testifying in the Senate, Clinton was blunter than ever about Washington's bid to drive a wedge between Damascus and Tehran -- the target of a U.S.-led drive for U.N. sanctions designed to halt Iran's contested nuclear program.
Syria earlier announced that Ahmadinejad will visit Damascus on Thursday for talks with Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, whose government says it wants to help Iran and the West engage in a "constructive" dialogue over the program.
During a budget hearing, the chief U.S. diplomat said she agreed with a senator that "there is a slight opening (with Syria) to build on...but there are a lot of issues between our government and the Syrian government."
She said William Burns, the undersecretary for political affairs and third-ranking U.S. diplomat, "had very intense, substantive talks in Damascus" when he visited there last week.
"And we've laid out for the Syrians the need for greater cooperation with respect to Iraq, the end to interference in Lebanon and the... provision of weapons to Hezbollah, a resumption of the Israeli-Syrian track...," she said.