Post by Salem6 on May 3, 2007 14:34:26 GMT
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has begun a ground-breaking meeting with the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem at a summit in Egypt.
It is the first time the two countries have held such a high-level talks since the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.
Syrian officials have been linked to his killing - a claim Syria denies.
The US has also accused Syria of stoking violence in Iraq, but says it has recently showed signs of changing.
"There has been some movement by the Syrians," a US military spokesman said in Baghdad.
"There has been a reduction in the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq" for more than a month, Major General William Caldwell said.
The meeting between Ms Rice and Mr Muallem took place on the sidelines of a major conference in Egypt, called to try to help pacify and develop Iraq.
There is speculation that Ms Rice may also meet her Iranian counterpart.
If she did, it would be the first time the two countries held such high-level talks since the United States cut relations in 1980.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6620205.stm