The Bush administration trained its laser-guided diplomacy on Syria, prompting Iraq’s neighbor to comply with U.S. requests.
Tensions between U.S. and Syria elevated when intelligence indicated high-ranking officials from Saddam Hussein’s regime sought refuge across the border.

After a diplomatic standoff, Syria closed its border with Iraq.
“Syria supports solutions which guarantee the interests of Arab people and resolutions on international legality,” said Syrian president Bashar Assad to Syria’s government news agency Sana.

“There have been some steps that they’ve taken,” said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher to an Agence-France Press reporter April 22, “and we think they are taking our concerns seriously.”
Despite rule by the Baath Party, the same political party of the deposed Iraqi regime, Syria has not had diplomatic relations with Iraq for over 25 years. It opposed Saddam Hussein in the 1991 Gulf War by providing military support and airspace for U.S. and allied troops.

With a standing army of 250,000, a few hundred fighter jets, scud missiles, and rusty Russian tanks, Syria’s armed forces are similar in size to what Iraq had before the recent invasion.
U.S. forces struggling to fill Iraq’s power vacuum worried about the Syrian regime exerting influence across the border.

Memories surfaced of the truck bomb that killed 19 U.S. troops and injured hundreds more at their Dhahran, Saudi Arabia base in 1996. Hezbollah, a terrorist group receiving support from Syria, claimed responsibility. Military intelligence indicated the Syrian government as the supplier of the explosives.

Hezbollah, meaning “the army of god,” is a Palestinian religious and political party with membership in the thousands, responsible for countless terrorist attacks in Israel. Primarily sponsored by Iran and operating out of Lebanon, several of its top members live in Damascus, Syria.

A bill stating Syria must yield to Washington’s demands or face an economic boycott by the U.S. was submitted to Congress the weekend of April 7 with bipartisan support. It included a section allowing the administration to consider future terrorism by Hezbollah as an act of war committed by Syria.