Profile: Farouk al-Sharaa

Al-Sharaa led Syrian opposition to war against Iraq at the UN

Farouk al-Sharaa has served as Syrian foreign minister for almost two decades. During this time he has been seen as a key proponent of Syria's hardline position on Israel and its call for greater unity among Arab states.

Born in Dar'a near the Jordanian border in 1938, he studied English at Damascus University and international law in London. He was Syria's ambassador to Italy in the 1970s.

He became the minister of state for foreign affairs in 1980, then foreign minister in 1984.

During the Iran-Iraq war, Mr Al-Sharaa defended Syria's policy of support for Iran, which led to a severing of ties with Iraq. But he also presided over a thaw in relations with Iraq in the 1990s.

In April 1990 he worked closely with Iranian officials to secure the release of an American hostage held captive in Lebanon by the pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad.

In May 1991 he attended talks which cemented a reconciliation between Damascus and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, after more than seven years of estrangement. And in meetings of the Arab League in March 1997 he supported Palestinian calls to suspend steps towards normal relations with Israel.

Mr Al-Sharaa participated in the highest-level peace talks ever held between Israeli and Syrian officials, when he met the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the White House in December 1999.

He led the Syrian delegation to the US-sponsored peace talks in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in January 2000. When the negotiations broke down, Mr Al-Sharaa was quoted as saying Syria would not resume a dialogue unless Israel promised to withdraw from the Golan Heights.

In the run-up to the US-led war in Iraq, Mr Al-Sharaa led Syrian efforts to oppose military action within the UN Security Council. "If there is a united Arab stand against an attack on Iraq, the United States will not and cannot attack," he told Syrian TV.

After the war he defended Syria against US allegations of supporting the former Iraqi leadership, and developing its own programme of weapons of mass destruction. He also called for a Syrian-Turkish-Iranian dialogue to "prevent the destabilization of the region" after the war.

In a reshuffle in mid-September 2003 he was one of 11 ministers to retain their original posts in the 30-member cabinet.

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