Q&A: The US and Syria

The US Secretary of State Colin Powell has urged Syria to take account of the "new strategic situation" after the war in Iraq. BBC News Online world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds answers some key questions.

Why Syria and why now?

Washington has turned its attention to Syria because it wants Syria to take certain actions and feels that now is a good time to press its demands. It wants Syria to help the so-called roadmap to peace between Israel and the Palestinians by agreeing on a settlement of its argument with Israel over the Golan Heights which Israel captured in 1967.

Mr Powell has also called on Syria to close the offices in Damascus of three groups considered as terrorist by the US - Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Above all, it is pressing for the Hezbollah link to be broken.

Syria, according to the US State Department, is a "state sponsor of terrorism". Syria admits that the groups have offices in Damascus but says these are for media liaison only. It also draws a distinction between international terrorists (such as Osama Bin Laden) and those fighting for national freedom (like the Palestinians)

Is Syria next on the list?

If that means next on a list of countries to be attacked, then the answer, according to both US and British officials is no.

If it means that the US wants Syria to change its policies and is ready to exert pressure, then the answer is yes. The US Secretary of State Colin Powell has talked about imposing diplomatic and economic sanctions.

What else does the US want Syria to do?

It wants Syria to send any Iraqi fugitives back (it was very angry at reports that Syria had supplied military equipment to Iraq) and to stop any chemical weapons programme it might have.

Does Syria have chemical weapons?

The CIA said in 2001 that "Damascus already has a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin and it would appear that Syria is trying to develop more toxic and persistent nerve agents."

The US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claims that Syria has conducted chemical weapons tests over the past year. Many defence think-tanks have concluded that Syria does have a chemical capability and has Scud-type rockets which could deliver them.

Syria has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. However, it says that it has no chemical weapons.

What kind of government does Syria have?

Syria is run by a branch of the secular Arab nationalist Baath Party, which traditionally competed for leadership in the Arab world with the Baath party in Iraq.

There was no love lost between Saddam Hussein and the former Syria President Hafez al-Assad. President Assad's son Bashar took over on his father's death but has not changed the system much except for some loosening of ties in the state-controlled economy.

According to British officials who have had close contact with Syria recently, President Bashar al-Assad is quietly preparing for major economic reforms which will only become apparent in about two years.

Syria has always seen itself as a key country in the Arab world and as an arbiter of peace with Israel. It says that it is ready for that peace but only if Palestinian and its own demands are met.

Is Israel a factor in this confrontation?

Syria feels that the US is picking off the enemies and opponents of Israel one by one in order to make a final settlement with the Palestinians on Israeli terms easier to achieve.

Israel itself has said that it will make demands on Syria through the Americans, including an end to Syrian support for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel is a factor but not the only factor. Washington has an agenda of change for the Middle East which goes wider. It wants to encourage a "democratic domino" effect, starting with Iraq. After Syria, it might look at Iran.