U.S. to send military team to Syria

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sign of improving relations between Washington and Damascus, the United States is sending a military delegation to Syria in the coming weeks to discuss Iraq, U.S. and Syrian officials said on Wednesday.

Separately, the Obama administration's Middle East envoy George Mitchell will go to Damascus, possibly next week, to assess whether the time is right to revive talks between Israel and Syria, a U.S. official said.

The official, who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to speak on the issue, said the diplomatic moves followed a telephone call on Sunday between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley confirmed Clinton had talked about the possibility of upcoming trips by officials to Syria but said he had nothing to announce. "We want to be engaged with Syria. We want to see what is possible," he said.

Ahmed Salkini, press secretary at Syria's embassy in Washington, said Syria had agreed to host a military team from U.S. Central Command but details still had to be worked out.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment on such travel.

Crowley said Iraq was a key issue in talks with Syria. The United States has accused Damascus of letting insurgents use Syrian territory to cross over into Iraq. Syria rejects accusations that it is meddling in Iraq.

"Syria is an important country in the Middle East. It can act constructively if it chooses. At times in the recent past, it has chosen to act less than constructively," he said.