“Syria Wants Obama”
Syria is keeping a close eye on the outcomes of the upcoming US presidential and Israeli elections, particularly after Sunday’s US raid on a Syrian compound has raised questions about the future of US-Syrian relations and American foreign policy in the region.
Syrian President Bashar Assad…
“The big question is whether this [strike] is a change of policy by the US, which affects the way it deals with not only Syria but also Iran and certain areas of Pakistan,” said Nadim Shehadi, an associate fellow of the Middle East Program at the London-based Chatham House. “A change of policy would mean that the US will go into hot pursuit where it thinks that there are terrorists being sent into Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Shehadi said that the Syrians have already decided there can be no improvement in US-Syrian relations between now and the new US administration. Syrian officials are counting on a radical change in US policy with the new administration, which implies they are expecting a victory for Democrat Barack Obama - the candidate calling for change, he said.
“Syria wants Obama,” says Prof. Joshua Landis, co-director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “They believe he will get out of Iraq sooner and give better relations with Syria a try. They are careful but hopeful…. They know that McCain was an early supporter of the war [in Iraq] and said that Syria and Iran would be next.”