Representatives of the Obama Administration and
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reportedly held hush-hush talks in Barcelona
in late May.
The two sides agreed at the meeting to make common
cause against a mutual enemy, terrorism, Nasser Sharara reports exclusively
this morning for the Beirut daily al-Akhbar,
mouthpiece of the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah triumvirate.
Sharara does not name the two sides’ representatives
but says a “high-ranking State Department official” spoke on Washington’s
behalf in Barcelona while a “Syrian religious figure” stood for the Damascus
government.
Sharara claims the U.S. ambassador to Spain, Alan D. Solomont, was to
attend the talks but “was bypassed at the last minute.”
He says, “It transpired
from the meeting between the State Department official and the Syrian religious
figure that Washington is concerned because Salafist extremists linked to
al-Qaeda have infiltrated Syrian opposition ranks and it is imperative to
eradicate them.”
Sharara adds, “The
impression from the meeting in Barcelona is that Washington is amenable to two
ideas: (1) fighting and stifling terror in Syria and (2) hammering out a
political solution for Syria in association with Russia.”
Sharara also claims the
White House will henceforth shape its Syria policy in partnership with the
Pentagon, specifically with Assistant Secretary of Defense for International
Security Affairs Derek Chollet.
