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Daily News (New York) September 20, 2004

U.S., Syrian Troops May Unite On Border Beat

By James Gordon Meek

WASHINGTON - Syrian and American troops might jointly patrol the Iraqi border to interdict foreign fighters, according to a published report.

The plan, if worked out between the two nations, would involve a "military-to-military" relationship that would be a significant change in official policy toward Syria, a country on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a senior American official told Time magazine.

Despite its occupation of Lebanon and support for anti-Israel terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Syria did not object to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But any plan to buddy up with Syria is sure to draw fire from Israel's allies, said defense experts.

"It's difficult to envision in the real world that U.S. and Syrian troops would jointly patrol," said John Pike, a defense analyst at GlobalSecurity.org.

Instead, the diplomatic moves are most likely an effort to engage Syria and "try to avoid a situation in which we wind up shooting a bunch of Syrian soldiers while we're in hot pursuit of evildoers," Pike said.


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