State Department summons Syria envoy over transfer of arms to Hezbollah

The Obama administration “condemned in the strongest terms” Syria’s alleged transfer of arms to Hezbollah and suggested that Syria’s actions would affect renewed bilateral relations.

“The most senior Syrian diplomat present in Washington today, Deputy Chief of Mission Zouheir Jabbour, was summoned to the Department of State to review Syria’s provocative behavior concerning the potential transfer of arms to Hezbollah,” State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said in a statement April 20. “This was the fourth occasion on which these concerns have been raised to the Syrian Embassy in recent months.”

Israel made public its concerns about reported arms transfers last week; Duguid’s timeline of four encounters in “recent months” suggested that the U.S. concern about the matter predated Israeli announcements.

“The transfer of these arms can only have a destabilizing effect on the region, and would pose an immediate threat to both the security of Israel and the sovereignty of Lebanon,” the State Department said.

President Barack Obama in recent months has begun to roll back some of the isolation of Syria implemented during the Bush administration. He has nominated an ambassador to Syria for the first time since 2005 and has spoken of “enhanced” relations.

Syria wants above all to be removed from the State Department’s list of terrorism-sponsoring nations, an action that would open up possibilities for commercial and other ties.

Duguid made clear that the arms transfers could bury that possibility. — jta